Document management system

ABSTRACT

The method, system and a computer program and a computer product for managing workers and documents is provided. The method includes storing industry representations and a list of workers with data related to the workers, linking the industry representations to the workers and selecting at least one worker from based on the industry representations for that worker. The method also includes scheduling workers to a job based on whether they have all of the required industry representations. In addition, the method includes uploading industry representations and bar code scanning industry representations into the database. The method further includes dispatching said industry representations to other users and automatically mapping fields of the dispatched data in the destination database. In addition, the method includes selectively encrypting only sensitive fields in data transmission between two entities.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This is a divisional of application Ser. No. 14/176,896 filed Feb. 10,2014. Application Ser. No. 14/176,896 is a divisional of applicationSer. No. 13/244,063 filed Sep. 23, 2011; now U.S. Pat. No. 8,660,876.Application Ser. No. 13/244,063 is a continuation of application Ser.No. 12/561,807 filed Sep. 17, 2009, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,060,394, whichis a continuation of application Ser. No. 10/879,617 filed Jun. 30,2004, which claims benefit of Provisional Application No. 60/483,098filed Jun. 30, 2003. The entire disclosures of the prior applicationsare hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention

A method and a system consistent with the present invention broadlyrelates to tracking business documents including employee documents andother business related information. More particularly, the presentinvention is consistent with providing an integrated, comprehensivemethod for managing employees, customers, jobs, vendors, contacts andequipment information, and the related documents.

2. Description of the Related Art

Business owners, especially those who manage large temporary orpermanent work forces or a myriad of projects, face an avalanche ofdocuments and expend a tremendous amount of time and resources toproperly manage employee documents, improve payroll speed andreliability, manage job and task assignments, match employee skills andqualifications with job requirements, and transfer the requireddocuments to their business partners.

Out-dated, erroneous or lost information, delays, reduced productivity,and low morale are just a few of the problems associated withconventional efforts to exchange documents with business partners andmanage workers, documents and associated tasks or jobs. Moreimportantly, in regulated industries, business owners must comply with ahost of state and federal requirements and worker certifications, all ofwhich must be tracked, kept current and provided to various businesspartners including government agencies. In addition, there are numerousissues associated with the proper allocation, tracking, and distributionof funds associated with the projects.

In the environmental industry, for example, an environmental contractormust handle and track multiple workers, multiple projects, multiplestate and federal regulations, and thousands of documents almost eachand everyday, or face substantial penalties and fines. The contractormust therefore devote significant internal resources for tracking andcompliance with industry regulations.

Attempts in the industry have been made to solve these problems. Forexample, U.S. Pat. No. 6,049,776 to Donnelly discloses a human resourcemanagement system for staffing projects with various workers. Forexample, Donnelly's system schedules workers based on skills andevaluation of the performance manually entered by the user. Donnelly'ssystem is a very limiting management system, which does not managedocuments for the worker and which addresses only a few of the generalproblems described above. Donnelly does not even begin to address theproblems of the environmental industry.

In the healthcare industry, a document information system was designedfor addressing specific needs of this specialized industry as taught byU.S. Pat. No. 6,292,783 to Rohler et al. Rohler et al. is also alimiting solution designed for this very specialized industry, which hasa data storage means, phone interface means for inputting and retrievingdata and a verification means using one or more calendars to verifymedical tasks performed to the scheduled ones.

Attempts in the industry are also made to facilitate the transfer ofdocuments from one database to another. For example, in Publication No.20020174098 to Hsing Kong Wu et al., a database management systemintegrates the original data sources operating under differentApplication Program Interface (e.g., ORACLE, SYBASE, MS SQL, IBM DB2,etc.) and transforms these data sources into text files (e.g., EXCEL,XML, WML format) for utilization by different application systems (e.g.,IE Browser, Netscape, EXCEL, WAP phone, EOS, or POS in enterprises) viadifferent transmission interfaces (Internet, Intranet, Mobile network)so as to meet the requirements of electronic commerce. In particular,one database is transferred to another database mapping the data fieldsvia multiple operation means. This system, however, is for automaticallytransferring entire files. The user does not have the flexibility tojust transfer the necessary fields. Also, no verification of data ispresent.

Business owners, managers and other personnel need a real-time systemthat can accurately track and manage multiple workers, multipleprojects, and the associated documentation requirements, withoutspending an inordinate amount of time entering data, re-keying data,developing reports, and interfacing with conventional payroll andaccounting systems. In addition, business owners need a system capableof quickly exchanging information between various business associates.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Illustrative, non-limiting embodiment of the present invention overcomesthe above disadvantages and other disadvantages not described above.Also, the present invention is not necessarily required to overcome anyof the disadvantages described above, and an illustrative, non-limitingembodiment of the present invention may not overcome any of the problemsdescribed above. The appended claims should be consulted to ascertainthe true scope of the invention.

It is an aspect of the present invention to provide a system and methodmanaging personnel staffing for designated projects, especially thoserequiring time-sensitive certifications. It is further an aspect of thepresent invention to provide a system and a method managing the costs ofthe designated projects including payroll management, projectestimations, and the like.

It is further an aspect of the present invention to provide a system anda method for managing industry representations related to personnel,customers, projects, equipment and to other subjects and other entitiespresent in various industries. It is further an aspect of the presentinvention, to provide a system and a method for comprehensive managementof documents of various kinds.

It is further an aspect of the present invention to provide a system anda method to facilitate secure sharing of documents between variousentities within a community. It is further an aspect of the presentinvention to provide a system and a method for verification of variousdocuments. Other aspects will become apparent from reading thedescription herein.

According to an exemplary non-limiting embodiment of the presentinvention, a computer-assisted system and a method is provided formanaging workers and documents. A storage stores industryrepresentations and a list of workers with data related to the workers.A processor relationally links the industry representations with one ormore workers from the list of workers. The processor further analyzesthe workers on the list based on the industry representations linked tothe workers and based on data related to the workers. Based on thisanalysis, the processor then selects a worker from the list. Theprocessor may select the worker for various viewings and manipulations.

According to another illustrative, non-limiting embodiment of thepresent invention, a computer program product and a computer systemadapted to manage workers and documents has a processor, a memory withsoftware instruction adapted to enable the computer system to performthe following steps: storing industry representations and a list ofworkers with data related to the workers, relationally linking theindustry representations with one or more worker from the list ofworkers, analyzing each worker based on industry representations linkedto this worker and based on data related to this worker, and selectingone or more workers based on this analysis.

According to another exemplary, non-limiting embodiment of the presentinvention, a method for managing documents is provided. In the method, aplurality of documents and a list of entities are stored and some of thedocuments are linked to one or more entities. The method furtheranalyzes an entity based on the documents relationally linked to theentity.

According to another illustrative, non-limiting embodiment of thepresent invention a system, a computer program product and a method foruploading documents is provided. In this embodiment, an entity and anindustry representation type, and the type of uploading to perform isselected. The industry representation is uploaded and the user inputsinformation for the uploaded Industry representation. The informationand the industry representation is saved to a data store. The industryrepresentation is linked to the entity and the industry representationtype and the entity is a worker, a customer, a job, a vendor, a contact,a user or a company.

According to another illustrative, non-limiting embodiment of thepresent invention a system, a computer program product and a method fortransmitting information is provided. The industry representation isscanned in with a bar code and the bar code information from the barcode related to an industry representation is read. The bar codeinformation is linked to the industry representation. When the bar codeinformation has an industry representation type and an entity, the barcode information is complete. In this case, the industry representationwith the linked bar code information is stored in the data store. Whenthe bar code information is incomplete, the industry representation ismanually linked to the entity and/or the industry representation type,before the industry representation is stored in the data store with thelinked bar code information.

According to another illustrative, non-limiting embodiment of thepresent invention a system, a computer program product and a method foruploading industry representations is provided. A coversheet with a barcode is scanned in and the bar code information is read from the barcode that is attached to a cover sheet. Next a number of industryrepresentations are scanned in and the bar code information isautomatically linked to each of the scanned in industry representations.The industry representations are stored with the linked bar codeinformation.

According to another illustrative, non-limiting embodiment of thepresent invention a system, a computer program product and a method formanaging workers and documents is provided. A list of workers andindustry representations with data related to the industryrepresentations are stored. The industry representations are linked withone or more worker from the list. Filters are set for displayinginformation and one or more worker with one or more correspondingindustry representation is displayed.

According to another illustrative, non-limiting embodiment of thepresent invention a system, a computer program product and a method formanaging workers and documents is provided. Data related to a worker,one or more industry required representations and a job with or withouta work type is stored. User input is then received and analysis of thestored data is performed based on the received user input. The resultsare then displayed. The analysis performed is at scheduling one or moreworker to a job when one or more industry required representations forthe worker matches industry requirements for the work type.Alternatively, the analysis performed is informing the user of a statusof an industry required representation for the worker or displaying alist of jobs filtered by a job status.

According to another illustrative, non-limiting embodiment of thepresent invention a system, a computer program product and a method formanaging worker information and documents is provided. Data related to anumber of workers including an industry required representation for oneor more workers is stored. Data related to a job and workers associatedto a work type is also stored. Next, an analysis of the stored data isperformed and the results of the analysis are produced. The results maybe a list of one or more workers qualified for the work type based onthe industry required representation for the one or more workers.Alternatively, the results may be an empty list when no workers meet theindustry requirement for the work type or a list of the workers to allowthe user to manually allocate one or more workers for the job butalerting the user when the worker being scheduled does not have theindustry required representation for the work type.

According to another illustrative, non-limiting embodiment of thepresent invention a system, a computer program product and a method formanaging worker information and documents is provided. Data for a numberof workers and various forms are stored in a data store. Then, one ormore workers are selected and one or more forms are selected and thesystem populates the selected forms with data for the selected workers.

According to another illustrative, non-limiting embodiment of thepresent invention a system, a computer program product and a method fordynamically exchanging information between a community of users isprovided. The user selects data having a number of fields and at leastone record from a source database for transfer to a destinationdatabase. The selected data is dispatched to the destination database.When the dispatched data is received, upon a user request, the receiveddata is stored in the destination database by mapping fields of thereceived data with fields in the destination database.

According to another illustrative, non-limiting embodiment of thepresent invention a system, a computer program product and a method fortransmitting information between entities, the entities being a serverand a client. First, a key pair for asymmetric cipher is generated by afirst entity, and the public key is transmitted to the second entity.The second entity generates a session key for a symmetric cipher andencrypts the session key with a public key. The encrypted session key istransmitted to the first entity, and the first entity uses the sessionkey to encrypt selected data. The data with some fields being encryptedis transmitted to the second entity where it is decrypted.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above objects and other advantages of the present invention willbecome more apparent by describing in detail the illustrative,non-limiting embodiments thereof with reference to the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the main modules in a worker managementsystem in accordance with an illustrative, non-limiting embodiment ofthe present invention.

FIG. 2 is a GUI of the main menu of the worker management system inaccordance with this embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the sub-modules for a worker managementmodule in accordance with this embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a GUI of the worker management module in accordance with thisembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a GUI of the add a new worker sub-module in accordance withthis embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart diagram of adding a new worker to the workermanagement system's database in accordance with this embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 7 is a GUI of the workforce list in accordance with this embodimentof the present invention.

FIG. 8A-H are GUIs of the worker information split up into tabs inaccordance with this embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a flow chart diagram of viewing worker information inaccordance with this embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a flow chart diagram of editing worker information inaccordance with this embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11A-D are GUIs of the worker searches split up into tabs inaccordance with this embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a GUI of the search results in accordance with thisembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is flow chart diagram of searching for workers using userinputted criteria in accordance with this embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 14 is a block diagram of the sub-modules for a document managementmodule in accordance with this embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 15A is a flow chart diagram for uploading a document into thesystem in accordance with this embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 15B is a flow chart diagram for creating a barcode and scanningitems into a database.

FIGS. 16A-F are GUIs of the uploading wizard in accordance with thisembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 17 is a GUI of the document review sub-module in accordance withthis embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 18 is a GUI for verifying a document in accordance with thisembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 19 is a flow chart diagram of the document review sub-module inaccordance with this embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 20 is GUI for setting filters for the job review sub-module inaccordance with this embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 21 is GUI for work type document review sub-module in accordancewith this embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 22 is a flow chart diagram of scheduling an update for the documentin accordance with this embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 23 is a block diagram of the sub-modules for a job managementmodule in accordance with this embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 24A-J are GUIs for adding/editing or viewing information about ajob in accordance with this embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 25 is a GUI of a job list in accordance with this embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 26 is a flow chart diagram for viewing job information inaccordance with this embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 27 is a flow chart diagram for editing job information inaccordance with this embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 28 is a GUI of the job assignment report in accordance with thisembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 29A is a GUI of scheduling by job, job assignments, in accordancewith this embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 29B is a flow chart for the job assignment in accordance with thisembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 30A is a GUI of the scheduling by worker in accordance with thisembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 30B is a flow chart for the scheduling by worker in accordance withthis embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 31 is a block diagram of the sub-modules for a customer managementmodule in accordance with this embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 32 is a GUI for adding a new customer into the worker managementsystem in accordance with this embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 33 is a flow chart diagram for adding a new customer into theworker management system in accordance with this embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 34 is a GUI of the screen for viewing current customers in theworker management system in accordance with this embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIGS. 35 A-F are GUIs for viewing and editing information about acustomer in accordance with this embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 36 is a flow chart diagram for viewing customer information for acustomer selected from a list of customers in accordance with thisembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 37 is a flow chart diagram for editing customer information for acustomer selected from a list of customers in accordance with thisembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 38 is a block diagram of the system administration managementmodule in accordance with this embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 39A-C are GUIs for user account management sub-module inaccordance with this embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 40A-F are GUIs for document and skills set up sub-module inaccordance with this embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 41A-C are flow chart diagrams for adding, viewing and editingskill types in accordance with this embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 42A-C are flow chart diagrams for adding, viewing and editingdocument types in accordance with this embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 43 is GUI for setting up job statuses in accordance with thisembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 44 is a GUI for setting up types of work in accordance with thisembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 45 is a GUI for setting up worker statuses in accordance with thisembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 46 is a GUI for setting up worker titles in accordance with thisembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 47 is a GUI for creating, editing and viewing field types inaccordance with this embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 48 is a GUI for setting up contact types in accordance with thisembodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 49A-B are GUIs for setting up form types and fields for the formsin accordance with this embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 50A-B are GUIs for setting up tools and detailed information forthe tools in accordance with this embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 51 is a GUI for setting up payroll taxes types in accordance withthis embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 52A-C are flow chart diagrams for adding, viewing and editing workpayroll taxes types, respectively, in accordance with this embodiment ofthe present invention.

FIG. 53 is a GUI for setting up worker compensation types in accordancewith this embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 54A-C are flow chart diagrams for adding, viewing and editing workworker compensation types, respectively, in accordance with thisembodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 55A-C are flow chart diagrams for adding, viewing and editing workmiscellaneous burdens types, respectively, in accordance with thisembodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 56A-E are GUIs for wage management sub-module including setting upcompany pricings, customer pricings, work type pricings, vendorpricings, wage determination library, and wage setup, in accordance withthis embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 57A-K are GUIs for the security grid sub-module in accordance withthis embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 58 is a GUI for adding, editing and viewing work types inaccordance with this embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 59A-C are flow chart diagrams for adding, viewing and editing worktypes, respectively, in accordance with this embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 60 is a block diagram of the accounting management module inaccordance with this embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 61 is a GUI for weekly time report for a payroll management inaccordance with this embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 62 is a GUI for printable time report for a billing management inaccordance with this embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 63 is a block diagram of the print to go module in accordance withthis embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 64 is a GUI for creating a worker file to go in accordance withthis embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 65 is a GUI for creating a job file to go in accordance with thisembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 66 is a GUI for populating filled out forms in accordance with thisembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 67 is a flow chart diagram of information exchange module inaccordance with this embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 68A-E are GUIs for creating a new message to be transmitted andreading a received message in accordance with this embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 69 is a flow chart diagram of creating a session key forselectively encrypting data, encrypting selected fields, transmittingencrypted and unencrypted data, and decrypting fields in accordance withthis embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 70A-G are block diagrams of information exchange for variousindustries in accordance with this embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 71 is a GUI for adding a new vendor in accordance with thisembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 72 is a GUI for setting preferences for the company in accordancewith this embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE ILLUSTRATIVE, NON-LIMITING EMBODIMENTS

The present invention will now be described in detail by describingillustrative, non-limiting embodiments thereof with reference to theaccompanying drawings. In the drawings, the same reference marks denotethe same elements. The invention may, however, be embodied in manydifferent forms and should not be construed as being limited to theillustrative embodiments set forth herein. Rather, the embodiments areprovided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and willfully convey the concept of the invention to those skilled in the art.The terms “end user”, “customer” or “contractor” are usedinterchangeably, and refer to the actual user of the illustrative,non-limiting embodiment of the Worker Management System (“WMS”) tocoordinate workers and projects.

I. Introduction

In an illustrative, non-limiting embodiment of the present invention,the Worker Management System is a software application that managesaspects of the relationship of a worker and a company, with regards toskills, qualification, certification, job requirements, scheduling needsand document management. The software application can be delivered tothe user via a web-based graphical user interface. The softwareapplication' can also be deployed over a dedicated computer network(e.g., LAN or WAN), or via a stand-atone computer system for aparticular company, such as an intranet installation or by other means.For simplicity and ease of discussion, the illustrative, non-limitingembodiments of the present invention will be described with reference toa web-based system.

The illustrative, non-limiting, embodiment digitally captures worker,customer, job and equipment information and documentation in one system.The captured information is used across a wide variety of modules andmakes the captured information available in a variety of reports furtherensuring that the captured data is easily ported to conventionalsoftware applications such as payroll and accounting systems thatinterface with the variety of modules.

For example, the illustrative, non-limiting, embodiment of the WorkerManagement System can work in conjunction with the end user's currentaccounting software (with a custom link) or be configured to work with aproprietary accounting system by changing the data export functions asdescribed in greater detail later. The software can also be enabled forweb-based delivery, allowing multiple end users (customers) to gainaccess to worker information and job specifications from anywhere via anInternet connection.

The illustrative, non-limiting embodiment of the present invention usesdynamic fields to describe data, so that the system can be adapted toany industry that requires document capture and/or the tracking anddissemination of those documents, for example, regulated certificates orrequired documents. The system tracks features related to the documentssuch as expiration dates, renewals and updates. Although an illustrativeembodiment of the present invention is particularly suited for aregulated industry worker and documentation management, one of ordinaryskill in the art would understand that, by modifying the dynamic fields,the illustrative embodiment of the present invention is applicable toany industry requiring worker management and documentation. For example,an illustrative, non-limiting embodiment of the WMS is applicable to theconstruction industry, chemical industry, healthcare industry, realestate and many other industries. New fields can be added at any levelto accommodate the specific requirements of a particular industry.

The illustrative, non-limiting embodiment of the present invention hasan intuitive user interface to make it user friendly and easy to use.The system also allows rapid management and review of workersqualifications and expiration dates. In the environmental industry, forexample, an environmental contractor using the illustrative embodimentof the WMS can handle and track thousands of documents that are requiredwithin the industry each and everyday. The illustrative, non-limitingembodiment of the WMS allows the environmental contractor to managetheir company work force with incredible ease, reliability andefficiency, thereby drastically cutting support and overhead costs. Theuse of the WMS by a contractor costs pennies in comparison with thecosts a contractor currently incurs to perform the same functions.

In addition to the environmental contractor, the Industrial Hygienist(IH), the customers (i.e., sub-contractors) of the environmentalcontractor and state/federal regulators can access the same data set, orselected portions of the same data set, as determined for each job.Thus, there is a single location where information is current, andparties involved in the process may view the same real-time data. With apassword, for example, the documentation is only an Internet connectionor a phone call away. By relieving the administrative burden, theworkers and the contractor can focus on the tasks at hand.

In the illustrative, non-limiting embodiment of the present invention,the main modules are: a) worker management, b) document management, c)job management, d) customer management, e) system administration, f)accounting management, g) print-to-go, h) information exchange, i)vendors and j) miscellaneous. They are shown in FIG. 1 and can beaccessed by the user via, for example, the main menu.

The exemplary main menu illustrated in FIG. 2 provides the user withaccess to worker management module by selecting “employees.” Similarly,the exemplary main menu illustrated in FIG. 2 provides the user withaccess to document management module by selecting “documents”, to jobmanagement module by selecting “jobs,” to customer management module byselecting “customers,” to the system administration module by selecting“system admin”, to the accounting management by selecting “time sheet,”to print-to-go module by selecting “send,” to the information exchangeby selecting “information exchange” from other links appearing on theright side of the exemplary screen, to the vendors module by selecting“vendors.” Access to additional information may be provided. Forexample, the main menu may provide access to contacts which is similarto an address book, company information, industry vocabulary, help,number of messages in the mail box, downloads and so on may be provided.

The terms “module” and “sub-module” and “logical part” are not intendedto mean that the functions described herein be grouped as described, asany alternate grouping of functions may be substituted to practice thepresent invention. What follows is a general overview of the broadfunctionality of the illustrative non-limiting embodiments of thepresent invention and then, a more specific and detailed description ofthe main modules is presented in the context of the environmentalservices industry.

II. Overview of the Exemplary WMS Functionality

The illustrative WMS has numerous features, and the following presents abroad framework of its capabilities. Many of the features havefunctionality that interact across several of the main modules, andtherefore are not easily categorized under a single heading. As aresult, the features below may contain some overlap in the description,and the features described under one major category of functionalitiesmay also be applicable to other categories of functionalities. Some ofthe exemplary functionalities of the WMS are described below under thefollowing broad category headings: a) document and worker management, b)information exchange and web security, c) job and worksite management,d) scheduling, e) searching, f) labor/cost management analysis, g)payroll, h) billing, i) alerts, j) worker compensation audit informationmanagement, and k) color coding.

A. Document and Worker Management

For example, document management services allow for a comprehensiveinput and data capture, comprehensive distribution of materials asrequested, pre-job submittals (explained later in further detail in thesite management section), print, email and fax of documents andmaterials directly to the job site or to the designated managementpersonnel, secure access (e.g., using a secure PIN number) fordesignated third parties, including, for example, Industrial Hygienist(IH), the customers' sub-contractors, and local, state and federalregulators.

To facilitate the management of documents, a 24-hour Document Center maybe included, which allows the contractor, IH and sub-contractors toupload, verify or request documents or worker searches 24 hours a day.Worker updates or requirements can be forwarded to the WMS at anytime.If a contractor needs to have submittals printed, a job completion setprinted, or just a group of documents printed, with a simple phone call,email or fax they can request the WMS document center to take care ofit.

Anytime a worker has an updated requirement, the user may have theinformation forwarded to the WMS, directly from that location and by thetime they return to their office, the information is updated in the WMSand is ready for use. For example, when a worker gets an updatedphysical, the doctor's office faxes the cover sheet to the WMS 24-hourdocument center and the file is automatically uploaded before the workereven returns to the job site.

The end user has complete access to the workers files via the web, in asecure environment. The end user could review the document forverification, review the status of the document, and print, email or faxit anywhere, anytime. If the user is unable to access the web, he or shecan call an 800 number, provide a password and direct the 24-hourDocument Center to fax or email anywhere any documents.

The exemplary, non-limiting WMS can identify, accumulate, store, track,disseminate and update documents. The WMS tracks what paperwork has beenprinted. When the end user adds workers to a job and go to disburse therequired documents for the workers, WMS knows what has been previouslysent. The end-user can select to distribute only documents that have notbeen sent or the user can select to redistribute the entire file.

For example, this exemplary functionality may be accomplished by simplecheck boxes such as print entire job file, print only new documents, orview selected workers. If the user already printed the documentation andthe job required five additional workers, the system will show whichdocuments have been printed, and the user can simply request to printthe unprinted documentation or the user can print the entire job again.All of these options apply to faxing and emailing as well. The WMSincludes a capability to print from a cell phone by, for example,dialing in the job number, employee number and the fax number to receivethe document(s) needed.

WMS job file has an “update list” that allows the end user to define whoshould be updated throughout the job. It can be turned on or off foreach recipient and it controls how the information will be distributed.When a worker has been added to a job or their documentation has beenupdated, the user selects “update” and the WMS checks the records andforwards the new documents. By setting the update to automatic, the WMSwill send document updates every time a document is updated for that jobwithout the end user having to do anything. If the end user would ratherdo this manually, the end user can turn off the automatic setting andthen when needed select “update” for all or only specific recipients onthe list. Then files that have not been sent will be transmitted by fax,email or to a printer based on the recipient's predefined parameters.

The document distribution and review process allows for any or alldocuments that are stored to be printed, emailed, faxed and reviewedusing any criteria. For example, anywhere there is a “document” icon,the end user can double click the icon and the workers documents aredisplayed on the screen in a separate window for review, without losingthe current place in the application the user was working in. Inaddition, the user can drill-down into any worker's document or file toreview and research the information.

In this illustrative, non-limiting embodiment, the information ispresented to the user in a hierarchical approach, where the user isprovided with a general overview, and the user may select the desireditem and view details for that item, next the user may select sub-itemand view details for this sub-item and so on.

When the user selects a worker via a navigation action such as rollingthe mouse pointer over the worker's icon or clicking on the icon, theuser is presented with items that are expired or incomplete within theworker file, thus eliminating the need to change screens to find outwhat documents are showing incomplete or expired. The WMS system eithershows the information as being fully cleared, where the issuing body hadbeen contacted and the document confirmed for authentication, orsemi-cleared in those cases where only the date was verified. Thedocuments may employ a color border, or some other visual means, todistinguish the various levels of certification, verification,non-certification, or expiration. When WMS uploads the files, the WMSwill enter and lock the dates so they cannot be changed without asecurity access code. This allows for a safe, secure and reliablestorage of documents.

Moreover, there are a number of ways to monitor documents within the WMSto verify or even allow documents to leave the WMS system. Thesecontrols can be put in place with or without the knowledge of the lowerlevel staff. For example, while email distribution is one of the bestmethods to send files, there could be security issues. Therefore, theWMS has secure methods of monitoring emails. These exemplary methods areexplained herein below.

For example, only an authorized administrator will have access to emaildistribution. For further security, the WMS can prevent any emaileddocuments from leaving the system prior to an entry of a password. Then,upon an authorized individual's approval, the document would beforwarded to the recipient. When the administrator emailed a job file ofworkers documents, it would send an email request for release to apredefined management person. The manager would then enter an accesscode releasing the documents. This procedure has been set up to ensureno documents leave the site without the proper authorization orknowledge of the management. If the end user is unable to release animportant email because they are away from the web, the WMS 24 hourDocument Center can assist. With a simple phone call to the DocumentCenter and a series of verifications, the end user can have thedocuments released from anywhere.

If security is not a big concern and the end user wants everyone to havetotal access, but also wants to know when certain documents aretransferred to others, the following functionality can be implemented.WMS can send an email alert to the management every time a document hasbeen printed, emailed or faxed. The WMS may also send a notificationanytime a certain size file was printed, faxed or emailed. The WMS mayhave a log page that allows the end user to access the dispatchedrecords. This log will monitor printing, emails, and faxes, and tell theuser who and what was dispatched.

As a result, an exemplary, non-limiting embodiment of the presentinvention, allows for a number of functionalities to facilitate documentmanagement including input, distribution, updates and access. Theseexemplary functionalities allows for managing workers such as analyzingand reviewing of document expiration dates. In addition, the end usercan track, monitor and schedule updates for the documents of certainworkers. These functionalities for document and worker management arealways available via the web. The documents are stored in a storage suchas a database, thereby allowing a number of various searches based onnumerous customized criteria.

In addition, in order to facilitate upload of documents into the system,barcodes specifying the document's location in the system's storage andmetadata can be used. Scanning with barcodes facilitates uploading alarge amount of documents into the system. In addition, the validity ofthe document can be verified by users with different clearance levels.Some of these exemplary functionalities are also applicable to the othercategories described below.

B. Information Exchange and Web Security

With the use of passwords and certificates, documents are secure. Eachsubscribing company is set up on its own database to ensure that nomatter what kind of situation occurs, a subscribing organization couldnot find its way into another company's files. A user and a community ofusers in a one to one or one to many relationship can exchangeinformation with each other seamlessly while enabling each user tochoose the information they want to distribute, just as if they wheresubmitting the information by paper, email attachments, web page portalor any other means. Moreover, to ensure the security of the sensitivecontent, selective encryption is used during the data exchange. Inparticular, the user specifies which fields (e.g., the social securitynumber) should be encrypted during the transfer. By not encrypting theinformation that is unnecessary to secure, the system limits the sizeand complexity of the data that is being transmitted, allowinginformation to be transmitted faster while maintaining the security ofthe transmitted data.

The Information Exchange (IE) functionality eliminates the need for therecipient to manually extract data from the sources in order to enterthe data into a database, IE automatically enters the data into therecipient's database. With the development of IE, the user may dispatchinformation and supporting documentation (ISD) to one or more userselectronically, enabling the recipients to receive, view and accept allor parts of the information. The accepted ISD may be saved directly intothe receiving database. Each user has control over the ISD in theirindividual database. When information is received they can choose toaccept or reject the data and can even create new fields to accept newtypes of information. The user has control over what information is sentto other users and what information is accepted into their own database.IE empowers the world to exchange any information and supportingdocumentation by any user and community of users quickly and easily.

IE also enables the user to review ISD before accepting it. IE displaysinformation in full before loading it into the user's database. The userhas the opportunity to confirm the mapping of information and to acceptor reject specific fields or supporting documentation. In addition, IE'sSmart Management, a standard component of the IE process, allows theuser to manage the information and supporting documents through colorcodes and smart alert rules that have been established by each user tomanage common information between users in the industry.

C. Job and Worksite Management

Moreover, the exemplary, non-limiting embodiment of the presentinvention allows for management of the documents required for a certainjob (some of these functionalities were explained herein above in thedocument and worker management section). The job and worksite managementallows for management of the job and skill requirements, costs andscheduling. Job Management is an easy to use tool that allows the enduser to track budget information, comparing scheduled information toactual information, through one data entry screen.

Job Management allows for records to be tracked by each job a worker hasbeen assigned to. The Job Management module allows for real-timetracking of scheduled events and the worker cost associated with theproject. In addition, it allows scheduled information to be compared toactual information when the payroll module is utilized. The costreporting shows actual labor cost as they are assigned while alsoshowing the budgeted cost. This functionality provides with informationregarding costs of the job in relation to the budget.

In addition, budgeted and actual information can be entered into the JobManagement fields to give the end user a complete Job Cost system. Oneof the many advantages of the exemplary WMS is that as workers arescheduled a cost is calculated in real-time covering predefined burdens.This allows the end user to identify over-scheduling and projects thatare behind or ahead of their budget before the work is done.

The WMS shows the end user workers' schedules including but not limitedto how many hours the worker has been assigned for a particular day orweek and which workers were not assigned for that or another particularday or week. The end user can view the schedule for the upcoming week,and which worker has been assigned to which job, how many hours theworkers have been assigned for, and view worker availability in the listuntil they have been assigned to 40 hours (or any defined number ofhours) and for which job(s). Once the worker has reached a set number ofhours, the name of this worker is no longer on the list of availableworkers.

The worker name or the table cell in which the worker's name appears canbe color coded based on their availability. For example, worker name, orcell in which the name appears, will turn one color once they have beenassigned for forty hours (or another predefined number set by the enduser) and another color if they have been assigned overtime. In additionthe end user will be able to view the totals including hours assignedfor the week, regular hours, overtime hours, the cost (based on worker'swage or job certification wage) and percentage of staff assigned. As aresult, staffing a job is easy and efficient. One of ordinary skill inthe art would understand that other variations are possible includingcolor coding various user interface representations such as the text orthe actual field value, the cell of a table, a symbol, an icon and soon.

Moreover, with all the different paperwork requirements on a job site,it is hard for the user to remember all the details. This exemplary WMSchecks the job requirements and dispatches the necessary documents. Theillustrative system allows the end user to pull up a job and select viaa navigation action, print, email or fax to dispatch the requireddocuments for that particular job. The documentation for that job isdelivered because the system knows what is required based on the jobparameters and specifications previously entered by the end user.

Job and worksite management allows the end-user to gain complete controlover the worksite. Real-time information is loaded into the system asworkers enter and leave the system using WAP technology, swipe cards,barcode cards, smartcards or biometrics. Workers can be logged in viaany WAP enabled device, by swiping a card with a magnetic stripe, byscanning barcode card or smartcard, or by scanning their fingerprints.This allows real-time costs to be calculated in the WMS, therebyproviding real-time costs to the end-user. In addition, in real-time,the worker is either cleared or not cleared to work on the job site.This is determined upon entry to the site. If a worker is not authorizedto work on the site, the worker is denied the ability to sign in unlessa supervisor overrides the system. Some of these exemplaryfunctionalities are also applicable to the other categories.

D. Scheduling

Some of the exemplary functionality to facilitate scheduling includeseasy to use reports for posting to job boards, monitoring upcomingexpirations, real-time schedule updating, scheduling based on work type,reminders for individuals who should have gone to an update class,scheduling a worker for an update from anywhere in the system. Thus,when a worker's certification is expiring, the worker can immediately bescheduled by a drop down menu showing course information and date.

Scheduling based on work type allows for easy monitoring of the budgetand prevents the scheduling of higher wage qualified workers to a lowwage job that can be fulfilled by other, less qualified workers. Forexample, the environmental industry is labor intensive and requiresmultiple worker qualifications, just like the construction, medicalstaffing and other industries. Accordingly, a large portion of thebudget for each project is for labor and insurance to cover the labor.Therefore, when a worker is assigned/scheduled to the job, the followinginformation may be displayed for the job: work type (which generates anaccurate workers compensation expense), the cost of an individual, theaverage cost of the group assigned by “work type”, the total daily costscheduled, total man-days scheduled to that date, and total man-daysestimated for a quick comparison.

This allows the end user to know at a glance if they are within thebudget before the work actually takes places, allowing the end user tobe proactive rather than reactive. A color-coded system can be used toshow when a job is over budget or approaching a predefined benchmarkpercentage of labor cost allowed. Some of these exemplaryfunctionalities are also applicable to the other categories.

E. Searching

Numerous integrated searches may be performed. For example, the end-usermay search for the information associated with a particular worker,document, job, customer, etc. The searching may include a one parameter(e.g. worker name, a job number, etc.) or multiple parameters (e.g.,workers whose asbestos certificates are about to expire, workers whoworked overtime for a particular job, etc.).

For example, the end user can run searches based on any parameter andlocate specific workers for a specific work type. As explained above,each worker's skills and qualifications are maintained and kept current.Once set, the system will analyze the available work force and return alist of workers meeting the skill and qualification requirements. Inaddition, the list can be expanded to show workers who did not qualifyand why, so the issues can be resolved. The end user can then choosefrom the list of the selected workers and assign them to that job. By anavigation action such as clicking a check box the worker is assigned,providing real-time cost assessment compared to pre-entered budgetinformation. The worker's documents are captured for that job siterequirements and are made ready for distribution. Once the workers areassigned for the job, the documents for the job are just a click away tofax, email or print as submittals or initial paper work preparation forthe site. The system shows how many hours the worker has been assignedfor that day and shows who has not been assigned for that day. Some ofthese exemplary functionalities are also applicable to the othercategories.

F. Actual Labor Cost Management Analysis

WMS has the ability to assess ahead of time when a project is overbudget. WMS has scheduling capabilities whereby you can track not onlythe job qualifications, but also the cost associated with the labor aswell. By inputting key job cost information the customer (contractor) isable to view accurate job labor costs before the work has occurred.

By using WMS, the total cost of labor appears according to the scheduledworkflow. Therefore, when a project is over scheduled the customer wouldknow ahead of time. In addition, WMS allows for predefined thresholdsthat will alert supervisors via email, voice message or screen pop upthat the threshold has been triggered. This helps management to control,or eliminate, cost overruns before they happen. By utilizing the payrollmodule, the WMS delivers side-by-side comparison data. This allows thecustomer to analyze actual cost of the project to scheduled cost of theproject. The actual costs are the final numbers delivered from apayroll. Some of these exemplary functionalities are also applicable tothe other categories.

G. Payroll Worksheet

Whether the payroll module is used or not, the exemplary Job Assignmentsmodule of the present invention generates a Payroll Worksheet that letsmanagement know who was scheduled to the job and who to collect timefrom. This saves hundreds of lost hours a year correcting checks andfailing to capture billable hours. The payroll module has a spreadsheetfunction that has been designed to overlay any existing accountingsystem, providing a dramatic reduction in the payroll processing time.For example, the difference between a conventional Paychex data entryfor one certified wage worker and WMS is about two hundred fifteenkeystrokes. With the exemplary payroll module, it takes only about fivekeystrokes compared to the conventional Paychex method of about twohundred twenty keystrokes. On a large job of seventy five people, thedifference can be as great as about 16,125 keystrokes. What used to takeseveral hours or more, may take just minutes with the exemplary payrollmodule.

The exemplary WMS payroll input system utilizes job assignments todynamically create spreadsheets for time entry, and allows formanipulation of the spreadsheet on the fly. The process has beendesigned to be user friendly with one-time entries as often as possible.Individual data screens reside in the background while a spreadsheetallows for rapid and precise data entry. Default screens allow for asingle payroll entry week after week, while allowing the end user tooverwrite and edit the spreadsheet on the fly, editing or addinginformation. The exemplary WMS then exports the data into Paychex, andcan accommodate any other payroll package by modifying the data exportfile. Some or all of these exemplary functionalities are also applicableto the other categories.

H. Billing

The Job Management captures billing information for the workers by “worktype” and prints detailed reports. This makes generating invoices forthe user's clients quickly and easily, eliminating headaches andallowing the user to easily sort and arrange information. This exemplaryfunctionality is also applicable to other categories.

I. Alerts

Smart alerts are designed to prevent typical errors that occur at theactual job sites. The exemplary system utilizes email, voicemail or popup alerts to the end user's designated management team anytime certaincriteria have been breached. This enables the end user's management toreact immediately. The exemplary system allows for predefined thresholds(e.g., cost thresholds, worker document expirations, schedulecompliance, etc.) that will send an email, pop up or voicemail to theassigned management that the threshold has been triggered. The alertscan be turned on/off during the initial set-up process. In addition,customized threshold events for an end user can be developed andimplemented into the exemplary WMS. These alerts may be automaticallysent to the management team without further review or work from theend-user.

For example, the WMS sends email alerts, voicemails or pop ups tomanagers as the date of expiration for a certain certification documentapproaches. The illustrative email alert may be sent seven days (orwhatever number is set by the end-user or administrator) prior toexpiration, and then a reminder is sent two days (or whatever number isset by the end-user or administrator) prior to expiration. A daily emailcould be sent to the job site for workers that are on the site but outof compliance. An email can also be sent to the appropriate manager whena worker fails to attend a required training class to preserve acertification or qualification.

In another example, when labor cost thresholds are breached, an email issent to specified managers alerting them that the project has beenover-scheduled based on the estimate. At the same time, on the jobschedule screen in the WMS, the scheduler can view the job labor cost asthe workers are scheduled, thereby allowing for real-time cost laboranalysis, including the ability to override the threshold if needed.

The illustrative worker management system also has numerous internalcontrols for worker allocation compliance. For example, anytime anunqualified worker is placed on the job, a smart alert can be sent tothe appropriate manager notifying them of the problem. When theadministrator or the end-user attempts to place the worker on the job, apop up window will request a reason for the override. A short overrideauthorization statement may be required to place the worker. Theadministrator or the end-user will then be reminded at periodicintervals with a smart alert that a worker has been placed without theproper qualifications, prompting them to update and/or to correct thesituation. Of course, these fields can be modified, so that the workercannot be assigned at all, or it can allow the administrator/theend-user to assign the worker with an appropriate explanation. Some orall of these exemplary functionalities are also applicable to the othercategories.

J. Worker Compensation Audit Information Management

By using the payroll module, the end-user not only can speed up thepayroll processing but also enable the actual job cost functions to showas exact labor costs. A detailed worker compensation reportingfunctionality allows the end user to provide the insurance auditor witha detailed report of the workers' exact activities, allowing the enduser to capitalize on huge savings.

The end user is no longer at the mercy of the compensation carrierdefaulting the workers to the highest code. The report gives the exactand calculated cost of the work type performed allowing for quick andprecise audits with the documentation necessary to make the end usercompliant with the most detailed audit request. The exemplary WMSenables the end user to also see a worker's job history. The worker'shistory will display any workers compensation claims, unemploymentclaims, job history, and payroll history. Some or all of these exemplaryfunctionalities are also applicable to the other categories.

K. Color-Coding

The illustrative, non-limiting embodiment of the present invention hasalso utilized an intuitive and rapid way to identify groups or itemsusing a color-coding system. With a quick glance, the exemplary systemenables the end user to review worker document and job budget statuswith incredible speed. The color-code system has been designed tohighlight documents or criteria outside a specific range. For example:

One Color: Worker expired

Second Color: Worker within 30 days of expiring

Third Color: Worker info within 30 days of expiring but has beenscheduled for renewal

Fourth Color: Job approaching budget based on predefined criteria

Fifth Color: Job over budget

One of ordinary skill in the art would understand that the invention isnot limited to any specific colors, and various colors or otheridentifiers can be used within the scope of the invention. Moreover, oneof ordinary skill in the art would understand that the invention is notlimited to color-coding only these particular fields, color-coding anumber of other fields is within the scope of the invention. One ofordinary skill in the art would understand that other color codingschemas of various user interface representations are possible. Forexample, the exemplary system may color code cells in a table, icons,links, symbols, field value and so on. One of ordinary skill in the artwould also understand that the present invention is not limited to colorcoding workers, a number of other fields may be color coded. Forexample, jobs may be color coded depending on their status and/orcalendar may be color coded based on scheduled hours on projectsindicating the ratio of originally projected or estimated current costsversus the scheduled costs. The scheduled costs may include such itemsas payroll, tools (equipment being used), workers compensation andmiscellaneous burdens. These items are explained in further detailbelow. Some or all of these exemplary functionalities are alsoapplicable to the other categories.

III. An Exemplary Architectural Design of the Worker Management System

Next, an exemplary design of the WMS system is described. Each areadescribed below contains a set of dynamic data fields to be populatedfor each function. It is understood that the number of data fields canbe increased, decreased, or modified, depending on the specificrequirements of a particular user or customer. Since each customer isstored in a separate storage area or in a separate portion of thestorage area, the adding, subtracting or modifying of data fields forone customer does not affect the data fields for the other customers.

The application architecture may be separated into the following tenillustrative, non-limiting logical modules, shown in FIG. 1: a) workermanagement, b) document management, c) job management, d) customermanagement, e) system administration, f) accounting management, g)print-to-go, h) information exchange, i) vendors, and j) miscellaneous.WMS is an integrated system with functionality overlapping across theseten logical parts or modules. The entire application may be passwordprotected and the unauthorized users may automatically be redirected toa login screen. The user can easily navigate between these modules andtheir sub-modules by selecting various icons, tabs, and other userinterface representations. A detailed description of these logical partsis provided herein below.

A. Worker Management

The exemplary Worker Management module provides a simple, intuitive,all-inclusive form containing user interface representations such astabs, icons, hyperlinks and so on for access to sub-modules and othermodules and their sub-modules. The screens have been designed for easeof use to allow the customer to proceed through the fields of the WMSsystem tracking and monitoring workers. The exemplary fields includemany ranges to sort the worker's essential requirements.

The Worker Management modules provides the user with the ability tomonitor documents related to workers and their expiration dates, theability to quickly display these documents, the ability to quicklyaccess a document's status using the color-coded system, the ability toactivate and deactivate documents in reference to a specific worker, theability to easily upload documents by using user interfacerepresentation such as a browse button, the ability to easily scandocuments via a scan button, the ability to easily manipulate documents,the ability to track the skills of the worker and add new skills on thefly without having to predefine any skills, e.g., via pop up screens.

All of these exemplary items such as the workers and the relateddocuments are color-coded and are monitored throughout the WMS system toshow the status of each worker in relation to a number of principles.For example, the items may be monitored in relation to a predefinedcompany requirements and requirements directly associated to apre-defined work type. These requirements may be pre-entered into thesystem by the end-user.

The work type may be dynamically generated as well as its requirements,giving the end user the unique ability to have a limitless range of worktypes. The end-user can designate a certain set of skill(s) andqualification(s) to any “work type” they want to create. This exemplaryfeature allows the end-user to apply skill or qualification requirementsor combinations of skills and qualifications to a work type. Once thistype is assigned to the worker, WMS monitors and tracks the workerthroughout the system for their validation and status of that specificwork type description. This is done through a color and symbol system,allowing the end user easy visible monitoring of their work force.

For example, a company policy may require a copy of the worker'sdriver's license to be kept on file. The end user can simply select “adda new document type” and call it “driver's license”, and the requirementis set. It makes no difference if the jobs are Federal, State or local.This criteria is easily defined or redefined by the end user for anywork type and the skills of the work type as they pertain to the workerand then, as they pertain to the job. This allows the user to match aqualified and skilled worker to the job requirement for example by usingwork type or document type as explained in detail below. In addition,this information allows the end user to monitor these industryrepresentations for expiration and renewal. These industryrepresentations are archived so that the user always has these industryrepresentations for record purposes.

A more detailed discussion of the various forms with the WorkerManagement module will now be described. In particular, this exemplaryWorker Management module comprises of the following sub-modules shown inFIG. 3: 1) add a new worker, 2) worker list, and 3) worker search. Theuser may easily select any one of these sub-modules by, for example,selecting Worker Management and then selecting a tab corresponding tothe desired sub-module. By using tabs the screen does not have toreload, and it keeps the screen simple and easy to navigate and view.

The menu for the worker management module may provide the followingoptions as illustrated in FIG. 4. In FIG. 4, the bar on top of thescreen provides the user access to the main modules explained above.Mainly, this menu screen shown in FIG. 4 provides the user access tothree sub-modules: the user may access the new worker sub-module byaccessing “add new employee,” the worker list sub-module by selecting“workforce list,” and the worker search sub-module is accessed byselecting “search workforce.” In addition, the menu for the workermanagement module provides the user with access to “workforce schedule,”which allows the user to schedule workers, “workforce compliance,” whichallows the user to verify that workers have the required documents,“workforce assignments” also allows scheduling. These features areexplained in further detail below.

1) Add a New Worker

The end user can add a new worker without navigating through numerousscreens and having to wait for the screen to reload upon each selection,as explained above. This exemplary sub-module captures the workerinformation so the user is not delayed with numerous forms andcontinuous reloading and no additional time is lost on data entry. Anillustrative user interface for this sub-module is shown in FIG. 5. Theuser is simply presented with a display worker entry form, as shown inthe flow chart of FIG. 6. Then, the user simply enters the needed fieldsfor the worker information.

For example, as illustrated in FIG. 5, the bar on top of the screenprovides the user access to the main modules explained above. The nextbar on top of the screen provides the user access with access to themain menu for this main module by selecting “worker management” and withaccess to the sub-modules “add new employee,” “workforce list,” and“search workforce.” In addition, the user is provided with access to“on-site employees” to view the workers assigned to various jobs, thisis explained in further detail below.

As illustrated in FIG. 5, to add a new worker, the user may enter someor all of the following fields: employee Number (this can be any type ofnumber to synchronize with other accounting packages, etc.), First Name,Middle Name, Last Name, Address, Phone Number, Mobile Number, City,State, Zip code, Other Contact (this can be a memo field), Worker Status(e.g., US Citizen, Resident Alien, Work Permit, Other), Available (thiscan be a Yes or No), Employment Status (Active, Terminated, Inactive andany other dynamic statuses created by the user), Social Security Number(this field may be formatted to only accept correct entry), Date ofBirth, Employment Title, Birth Place, Primary Language, Other SecondaryLanguages, Wage, Fringe, Photo and etc. In addition, the user can uploaddocuments for that worker by simply clicking one of the upload icons,shown in FIG. 5. The uploading of documents is described in greaterdetails below.

Next, the user selects submit via navigation action and the data isstored in the database. In addition, as illustrated in FIG. 5, optionssuch as reset, cancel, and apply changes (when the worker information isbeing edited) are provided.

When the social security number or the employee number matches a workeralready in the database, an error message is displayed. The user,however, may force the entry of the information into the database byselecting to save the data anyways. Once a worker is saved in thedatabase, the list of the current or the entire workforce is displayed.The user may simply click the corresponding icon to add another newworker.

FIG. 6 illustrates the flow for adding a worker. In particular a userselects to add a worker and worker entry form is displayed. The userthen enters worker information and submits the information. The systemthen checks the existing social security numbers or employee numbers andcompares them to the social security number or the employee numberpresently entered. When the entered social security or worker numberdoes not match any of the social security numbers or the worker numbersstored in the database, then the new worker information is saved. If,however, the system finds the social security or employee number in thedatabase that matches the entered social security or employee number,then an error message is displayed, and the user is asked whether he orshe wants to save the entered information. If the user may still want tosave the information, the information will be stored in the database. Ifthe user does not want to save the information, then the user startsover. The user is then redirected to the entry form and the wholeprocess of adding information for the worker starts over. Theinformation previously entered by the user will, however, be displayedon the entry form.

One of ordinary skill in the art would understand that the invention isnot limited to any or all of these fields, and a number of other fieldsmay be provided within the scope of the invention. These fields areprovided by way of an example only and are not intended to limit thescope of the invention in any way. In addition, these fields may berestricted to only accept a certain type of data (e.g., only numericalvalues for the phone numbers or only set numbers of variables for thesocial security number, etc) as is well known by one of ordinary skillin the art.

2) Worker List

The exemplary Workers List sub-module allows the user to add a newworker, as described above, or to view and edit a worker's profile inone simple form. The Worker storage such as a database collects a seriesof information regarding a plurality of workers and enables the end userto monitor, track and evaluate a worker or a group of workers fromanywhere in the system.

The view worker screen is available from anywhere in the exemplaryembodiment of the system with pop up menus. This allows the end user theunique ability to enter data in another location in the WMS, click onthe worker's name, have a pop-up display of the worker's information,edit the information and return directly to the screen they were workingin with new updated information stored in the storage.

Within the illustrative Worker List sub-module, the user has the optionof filtering workers to view all workers or workers of any predefined ordynamic statuses such as active, terminated or inactive workers, asshown in FIG. 3. Moreover, the user can set up his or her screen so asto have certain information shown for each worker on the list, shown inFIG. 3. One of ordinary skill in the art would understand that numerousother variations are possible and these selections and how to view theselections are provided by way of an example only and is not intended tolimit the scope of the invention. The selection may then be viewed andedited as required by the end-user.

For example, the user may want to view the workers on the list alongwith fields such as worker's address, city, state, birth place, date ofbirth, employee number, phone number, languages, worker status, and soon. The worker list can also be color coded on a certain field or on anynumber of certain fields. For example, hard hats or some other icon orsymbol next to each worker name may be provided informing the user ofthe worker's status as it relates to the business requirements set inthat instance of the application. FIG. 7, for example, shows a list ofworkers. Each worker on the worker list is color coded to show thestatus of the documents associated with the worker. As illustrate inFIG. 7, two filters are provided to show a list of all workers or onlyworkers of the default worker statuses, such as current. In thisexemplary case, the workers are provided with color coded icons. Theicon of each worker changes color based on the type of documents presentfor the worker and the status of these documents. The user may add a newworker or view the detailed list for the workers. In addition, the usermay search for the worker as illustrated in FIG. 7.

From the Worker List, which can be displayed in a number of ways (a fewexamples were provided above), the user can then drill down intoinformation about an individual worker by simply clicking on that workeror entering that worker's number. The user may be provided with anability to easily navigate through worker's data with a variety of tabs.The detailed individual worker information may be split up into a numberof logical parts, as shown in FIG. 3. These parts may be displayed astabs, allowing the user to click on the tab to access a particularlogical part. For example, the Worker List may be split into thefollowing logical parts: i) worker details, ii) skills andqualifications, iii) form fields iv) employment information, v) workerhistory, vi) tool box and vii) miscellaneous. Each one of these logicalparts is explained in greater detail herein below.

Each of these tabs gives the user the information they need to reviewand evaluate the worker to determine their ability to work on any job orproject without having to move around the system to check on theseitems, or to scroll though a long document page. The user saves timethat may otherwise be lost on extra keystrokes and pages continuallyreloading as they navigate the system.

i) Worker Details

The worker detail logical part, which can be accessed by simply clickingon a corresponding tab, see FIG. 8A, provides access to generalinformation such as worker name, social security number, date of birth,employee numbers, addresses, phone numbers and other contactinformation, which can be provided in a form of a memo field. Inaddition, information such as worker's wage, fringe rate, employee titleand other general information can be provided. As illustrated in FIG.8A, in addition to the employee details that can be added and edited,the user is provided with a worker picture as well as tools foruploading and/or changing the photo for the worker. Moreover, asillustrated in FIG. 8A by a button title “File History,” a user may beprovided access to the history of the file to view information relatedto the file creation, edits and so on.

ii) Skills and Qualifications

This exemplary logical part, which can be presented to the user in aform of a screen shown in FIG. 8B, allows the user to access, viewand/or edit skills and qualifications of the worker. In the figures,“skills and qualifications” are represented as “skills and documents.”The skills and qualifications logical part provides the user with theability to add skills and qualifications of a particular worker. Notonly can skills and qualifications for a particular worker be added byselecting from a set of pre-defined skills or from a set of pre-definedqualifications but also a new skill can be added to a predefined list ofskills or a new qualification to a pre-defined list while enteringskills or qualifications for a particular worker. The exemplary WMSprovides the user the ability to capture skills and qualifications thatare specific to their industry. The skills and qualifications can beadded dynamically, on the fly, e.g., by using pop up screens.

The skills and qualifications logical part may be represented by twotabs as illustrated in FIG. 8B. One tab is for qualifications,illustrated in FIG. 8B as “trade documents”, which allows the user toadd, override or edit information related to industry representationssuch as industry required documents or to simply view the industryrepresentation. FIG. 8B illustrates a view for a document type “FitTest,” which is shown in the middle of the screen and may be enlarged bysimply clicking on the document. Next, the exemplary FIG. 8B also showsdocument information such as expiration date and information related toits size, source, creation, modification and so on. Next to the documenttype, FIG. 8B shows the status of the document to be “Up-To-Date.” Inaddition, below the document and its information, the user may beprovided with document history.

These qualifications or documents can be split into dynamic user groups(e.g., documents for asbestos work type, documents for generalconstruction license, and so on). For example, as illustrated in FIG.85, the industry representations “VA Lead,” “SSN,” “I-94” (visa), “I-9,”“Application,” and “Verification of SS number” are all grouped under the“VA Asbestos” document type.

The user is able to determine the order of documents in these groups viasimple pop up list that allows the user to drag and drop the documenttypes into the desired location. When no groups are created, thedocuments are simply listed. When a group exists, it will follow the“All Documents” group. The created groups can be collapsed or expandedby simply clicking on two small arrows in the group heading, forexample. In addition, the user can edit the actual document imagealready uploaded into a worker file. They can even choose to replace acertain industry representation with a new one. The user can also uploadmultiple pages for the document.

The skills tab may list the existing skills the worker has as well asthe level of that skill. Similarly to qualifications, the skills may bebroken into groups. The list of the skills appears first followed byuser defined groups of skills. For example, FIG. 8C illustrates skillsgrouped in various categories. FIG. 8C illustrates skills being groupedunder the category “all skills,” “company skills,” which may be skillsrelates to the customer (the company that is using the exemplary WMS orthe client of the company). That is, various customers may requireadditional qualifications or skills that are not required by thegovernment or the work type. The exemplary WMS provides the user with anability to track these additional documents only required by aparticular customer.

In addition, in FIG. 8C some skills may be placed under category “Trade”and others under the category “VA Asbestos.” These dynamically createdcategories may be overlapping where certain skills are listed under oneor more categories. Moreover, FIG. 8C illustrates that for each skill(the exemplary skills in FIG. 8C are “demolition,” “mold removal,” and“security clearance,”), a level may be specified or left unspecified.

New skills or skill groups and qualification types may be added on thefly via user interface such as a pop up box. Conventional methods andprocedures often require the user to setup skills in the application anddefine the skill prior to use. This process requires the user tointerrupt their current data entry, and go to a setup screen, whichrequires thorough knowledge of the system and path of the software.Delays in setting up a field may cause a busy administrator to neglectthe task of adding new skills, skill categories or qualification types,the process may take too long and they may not have the time for it.

However, this illustrative, non-limiting embodiment enables the user todynamically enter a new skills and/or qualifications on the fly withouthaving to close the current working screen. The user may take a simplenavigation action to add a new skill or qualification for the worker orto add a new type of skill or qualification. For example, FIG. 8Billustrates that the user may add a qualification by clicking on “addnew document” button to access a pop up screen. Also, FIG. 8Billustrates that by simply clicking “add new document type”, anewqualification type is added. FIG. 8C illustrates that a new skill typemay be added by a simple navigation action such as clicking a button. Inaddition various skill types may be linked to a worker by checking theskill types to be linked to the worker.

The new skill is added to the dynamic list of skills or a new industryrequired representation is uploaded into the list of qualifications.This enables the user to quickly and easily add a new skill without anydelay. By being able to easily add skills the end user is able to trackas much information about a worker as they wish, which enables the enduser to search and associate the worker with jobs that they are skilledfor. By utilizing Skills and Qualification fully the user is enabled tolocate and track workers to perform specific work as the work isavailable or to work for a particular customer by meeting customerspecific requirements, for a particular job by meeting job specificrequirements and so on.

For example, if a user is adding skills and qualifications for a workerand the user discovers that the worker has a Class C license and candrive an 18 wheeler. The user could easily click add a skill, the windowwould appear, they would type Class C license, and close the window,dynamically, the list would now include “Class C license” as a skill.The user could then click a check box, for example, and add the skill tothe worker's skills. Then the user could switch to a new job file(described later), enter a new job and find that a Class C licensedriver is needed to make a special delivery. The user could then, setthe job up and additional skills and qualifications Class C licensewould appear. They could simply check the box for a Type C license and alist of the Class C license drivers would appear in the qualified towork box.

This exemplary feature has given the end user the unique ability toeasily enter a skill without predefining it in a skill setup screenrequiring links to a worker file and job file. This traditional set updelay in the conventional applications requires thorough knowledge ofthe system and several setup screens. In addition to adding a skill inthe worker file, the skill could also be added in the job file, thecompany file, or the customer file (when the customer only wants workerswith class C licenses where class C licenses may not necessarily berequired for the job). This same list would then appear in the workerlist.

In addition, to entering skills for workers, where a new skill may bedynamically created on the fly, this logical part allows for entry ofworker's qualifications by linking industry representations such asvarious documents (e.g., the actual scanned in Class C license) to aparticular worker (details with respect to industry representationmanagement are described below). An industry representation such as acertificate or a license may be scanned or uploaded. The user may selectto link this scanned representation to the worker or to unlink(deactivate) a particular industry representation from the worker.Additional fields may be provided such as an expiration date of thedocument, creation date, modification date, history of the industryrepresentation and so on. These fields are provided by way of an exampleonly and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. One ofordinary skill in the art would understand that various other differentfields are possible. Moreover, one of ordinary skill in the art wouldunderstand that certain fields may be predefined as mandatory and thatonly upon completion of all the mandatory fields can data be saved.

Worker documents, industry representation for workers, are predefined inthe administrative module to control required documents but this can beedited and new types of documents can be added on the fly.

By selecting one of the documents types, the name of the documentappears on the screen as illustrated in FIG. 8B. The systemautomatically stamps key tracking information such as the creation dateand modification date, and the user enters information such as documenthistory, an expiration date of the document if any, whether the documentapplies to a particular work type and so on. If the user enters a checkmark for “No”, the document is not required for this worker and it willnot appear under the worker qualifications when viewing worker skillsand qualifications. On the other hand, when the check box is left blankthe document will appear in its status for document review and will alsoappear as an expired and/or incomplete document, until the informationis completed for each worker. This is explained in greater detail below.

Moreover, the user may view or zoom in on the document by for examplehighlighting or clicking on the document of interest. In addition,browse and scan buttons may be provided to allow the user to browse thedisk drive in order to load the document or scan the document directlyto the relevant record. Once the document is loaded it is recorded tothe document type. This allows for future use, since documents expirebut may need to be referenced many years later.

iii) Form Fields

This exemplary logical part, which can also be accessed by simplyclicking on a corresponding tab, see FIG. 8D, lists the forms that arein the customer's system and allows the forms to be filled out with thenecessary information in the corresponding form fields as well as theinformation already captured in the details tab and other existingfields in the system.

The form fields screen has a list of forms to choose from on the lefthand side of the screen, for example, as shown in FIG. 8D. A user simplychecks the box next to the form, which needs to be completed. Furtherinformation is located below the form names that can also be displayedon the screen as illustrated in FIG. 8D. The user simply marks the checkbox next to description, source, applied to and/or reference name ifthey wish to view those additional columns of information, see e.g.,FIG. 8D which illustrates that when the information selected under“additional column” is “description,” then description for each field isdisplayed. The user also selects the types of fields they will need tocomplete including fields from the worker table, fields specifically forworker forms, and fields from the company table.

As illustrated in FIG. 8D, the user first checks the source of the fieldtypes that should be completed (“worker's tables,” “worker's form,”and/or “company's table”). Next, the center of the screen illustrated inFIG. 8D lists the field names followed by empty cells in which the usercan type the field values. The user then can choose to save or cancelthe forms by clicking on one of two buttons which appear at the bottomright hand corner of the screen illustrated in FIG. 8D. Moreover,information in the system that was previously entered under a differentlogical part, sub-module or module is provided as values to the fields.For example, FIG. 8D illustrated that the values for the fields DOB(date of birth) month are already present because they were previouslyentered in a different sub-module or module.

iv) Employment Information

This exemplary logical part, which can be accessed by the user by simplyclicking on a tab provides a screen which shows employment relatedinformation such as worker status (US Citizen, Resident Alien, WorkPermit, Other), availability of the worker (Yes or No), employmentstatus (Active, Terminated, Inactive) and so on.

For example, in FIG. 8E, the employee information is “a drug test,”“driving license” with the driving license number stored under value ofthe “driving license” type of information. As illustrated in FIG. 8E,additional fields such as eye color, hair color, height and so on may beadded. Also, the fields may be broken by types (e.g., one type may belicense information, another type maybe physical information, and soon). Moreover, FIG. 8E illustrates that the file history for theemployee information may be view, (file history was explained in detailabove).

v) Worker History

This exemplary logical part, which can be accessed by the user by simplyclicking on a tab, provides a screen which shows information related tothe worker's history such as general notes, worker compensation notes,schedule history, payroll history, unemployment notes, jobs worked onand so on, see FIG. 8F. These additional features are used to track wagehistory (e.g., when and by how much a worker's wage rate has beenchanged in their file), an unemployment history, worker's compensationhistory, a job scheduled history, and a payroll history.

This exemplary feature allows for tracking the scheduled time versuspayroll time. As a result, the end user can view schedule information,associated costs as well as payroll information for that job, giving theend user the ability to compare and analyze schedule information versuspayroll information. This unique ability to compare scheduled dates toactual payroll dates enables the end user to make better managementdecisions. For example, the user can compare the workers scheduled hoursto the actual payroll hours paid to determine if the worker is workinghis scheduled shifts. This could help the user determine if the workeris reliable.

In the conventional systems, the end user uses budgeting software todetermine job cost relationships and actual cost spent. The time spentbreaking down payroll cost between types of work each pay period,requires countless hours of double entry work. Even the best accountingsystems that post the payroll cost directly to the job and the work typeon the job miss the relationship of what was actually scheduled. Forexample, when the user schedules the job with 10 men, the number of menhe estimated could do the job, and only 8 men show up all week, thatinformation is then displayed in the payroll numbers. The user then hasthe ability to see the schedule information and payroll informationquickly and easily. This feature enables the user to better estimate thecost of the next job that is similar in scope.

The reverse situation could be tracked by these unique tools as well. Ifthe end user scheduled 5 men to a job, and the job took 2 weeks tocomplete instead of the 1 week that was estimated, the user knows thecost overrun was due to underestimating the amount of work the job wouldtake and the number of workers that need to be assigned to a similar jobwill be increased the next time around. By relational linking betweenscheduling and payroll, a variety of cost information can be presentedto the user for better project management. The information is easy toread and can be drilled down for more detail.

Also, this logical part shows the information related to the worker'sjob performance and contributions. Managers are often forced to keeplarge amounts of data in their head as that it is often easier thanbuying and learning new management software applications. Additionally,much of the worker management software that exists today is difficult touse and time consuming to set up. This wasted time could otherwise bespent managing the user's core business.

This exemplary feature utilizes custom fields to allow the user todynamically enter key words for tracking information about a worker.These key words allow the user to quickly and easily add and reviewnotes regarding the worker. A user can view how the worker has beenrated by his supervisors. This gives the end user more information tohelp them decide whether or not they would want to use that worker ontheir next available job and with which supervisor, the worker is mostcompatible.

vi) Tool Box

This exemplary logical part, which can be accessed by the user by simplyclicking on a corresponding tab, provides the user with the ability tocreate binders or to group various documents into one group. Forinstance, certain documents are required for a particular customer, or ajob, the user can simply create a binder with the needed documents. FIG.8G illustrates creating a binder having a variety of information.

FIG. 8G illustrates an exemplary user interface for creating andmanaging binders of information. In FIG. 8G, a binder template(“documents”) is selected on the left hand of the screen. The user mayview various binders templates in the system, by for example clicking onthe “select a binder” button. Next, FIG. 8G illustrates that the userselects the type of documents, e.g. “Equipment,” “Conventional Loan.”Next, the user selects various documents classes under the selectedtypes, a C is displayed for current documents and an H is displayed forarchived or historic documents, page numbers are also displayed asillustrated in FIG. 8G. The user may also specify the type ofinformation to be included. As illustrated in FIG. 8G, the userspecifies document properties to include such as created, updatedinformation, file size summary and custom fields. Next, FIG. 8Gillustrates that the user may select page summary and what informationis to appear on page summary (titles as download links, file name, filesize).

In FIG. 8G, information for the binder is provided including totalnumber of documents, pages and fields. Total number of documents is acount of the number of document classes included in the binder, totalpages is a count of the total number of pages included in the binder andtotal fields is the total number of custom fields included in the binderby summing the number of fields included in each document. For example,if the binder has only two documents where the first document has threefields (creation date, modification date and expiration date) and thesecond document has only two fields (creation and expiration date), thetotal field count for this binder would be five. Thereby, once thebinder is created or whenever the user accesses the binder, the user cansimply click on the binder and print, dispatch (email, fax, etc.) orreview only the documents in this binder. In addition, the user mayreview the dispatch and print history of the binder. FIG. 8G illustratesan icon for review of the dispatch and/or print information appearing onthe right hand side next to the options to print, fax or email.

vii) Miscellaneous Documents

This exemplary logical part, which can be accessed by the user by simplyclicking on a corresponding tab, provides a screen which shows any otherinformation the end user may deem important such as birth place,language skills and/or documents that do not fit the mold of workerdocuments, which can be any type of file, not just a jpg or gif, but a.doc, .xls or any other file type and can also have multiple imagepages. The pages are listed next to the image of the first page. Theuser can number the pages or choose to rename them. In addition the usercan drag and drop the pages into a different order if so desired. Thefiles can be of any type from Microsoft Office files to pdfs, gifs,tiffs and CAD drawings. The drag and drop technology for the order ofthe document types and the order of the pages can be designed in HTML.

In addition, each image or file can be downloaded, printed, emailed orfaxed from this screen. The user has the option to dispatch just onepage or any selection of pages and document metadata such as thecreation and modification dates and users or any custom fieldsassociated with the document. In addition, when a single document ischosen from the list of documents on the page, the entire page does notrefresh. Only the new thumbnails of the documents are loaded along withtheir associated metadata. The user can switch between document typesand classes, or subtypes without having to reload their page. Thisadditional document functionality may appear as a tab in the job,vendor, customer, company and user account modules as well,

An exemplary miscellaneous or custom document is illustrated in FIG. 8H.The miscellaneous document appears on the left hand side of the screenunder various categories such as “equipment” and “conventional loan”.Once the user selects a document, initially the first page of thedocument is displayed on the screen, all other pages may be selected bya simple user navigation action, see FIG. 8H. Also, FIG. 8H illustratesthat the user may view document history including archived versions ofthe document. In addition the user may view document propertiesincluding document title, expiration date, issue date, scanned from,initial or not, creation, update, file count and so. Moreover, thedocument may be linked with various information in the system. Forexample, as illustrated in FIG. 8H, the document may be linked with acustomer “Whiting-Turner” and job “BG&E” and to the employees “Alonzo,Alvado, Anaya” and so on. These could be the employees, the customer andprojects for which the equipment is used.

To sum up, the Worker storage such as a database collects a series ofinformation regarding a plurality of workers and enables the end user tomonitor, track and evaluate a worker or a group of workers from anywherein the system. The view worker screen is available from anywhere in theexemplary embodiment of the system with pop up menus. This allows theend user the unique ability to enter data in another location in thesystem, click on the worker's name, have a pop-up display of theworker's information, edit the information and return directly to thescreen they were working in with new updated information stored in thestorage.

The exemplary Workers List sub-module allows the user to track anypossible information about the worker without any duplicative dataentry. In addition, the information is relationally linked by the systemallowing for a number of analyses. For example, a worker can bescheduled to a job closer to his home by using the detailed informationfor the worker or with a supervisor that speaks his native language.Similarly, the system can prevent the scheduling of unqualified workers(the workers which lack industry required representations for thisparticular job type) and thereby avoid hefty governmental fines.Moreover, workers with advanced skills and higher wages can be scheduledto harder and better paid jobs by using worker qualifications and skillsand accounting information, thereby saving costs. Worker's reliability,compatibility with various supervisors and even worker's clumsiness canbe analyzed (by reviewing worker compensation information and causes anddates of the injuries).

To sum up, the worker management system provides the user with an easyway to view the worker information and corresponding documents. The usercan select a worker by simply clicking on the worker from the list or byentering worker number. In response as shown in FIG. 9, the system looksfor that worker's information in the system's database, if worker recordis not found, the user is redirected to the worker's list as illustratedin FIG. 9. When the worker's record is found, it is loaded into thesystem and is displayed for the user in easy to navigate tabs.

In addition worker documents are loaded for user review. If worker doesnot have a certain type of document, this document is displayed as ablank document. Moreover, for the existing documents, its history isdisplayed. That is, the system loads all document types and for eachdocument type checks all workers within the list, see FIG. 9. Inparticular, if the worker is missing the document, it is displayedblank. Otherwise, document information is displayed and the systemchecks if there is a scan of the document or other file type in thesystem. If the document is found, then the user is provided with a linkto view the document. Next, the system checks for archived version, andprovides the user with links to archived document that is to the filehistory as illustrated in FIG. 9. This process is repeated for eachdocument type, as illustrated in FIG. 9.

Once the process finishes, the user is provided with a link to edit theworker information. For example, the user may edit the workerinformation and documents by simply clicking the edit button. Once, theedit button is clicked, the user simply modifies the desired informationincluding worker documents, and clicks save. The modified information isuploaded into the system and saved for future reference, see FIG. 10.

3) Worker Searches

The exemplary Worker Searches sub-module is a search engine designed tosearch for a single piece of data within a very complex and large amountof data. The WMS allows the user to enter any possible scenario tolocate a specific type of worker based on any criteria in the system andreturns a list of workers who meet the criteria. Without leaving thescreen, the user can adjust the parameters and start another search orsave the search and then create a new search. The user has the option tosearch by various worker details, documents, and skills. One of ordinaryskill in the art would understand that the additional search criteriacan be added and organized on one form or separate tabs as currentlyshown.

The search engine searches through workers with statuses deemed asactive by default. A filter in a drop down list allows the user to sortby All Workers, Workers that worked in the last 30 days, 6 months, oneyear and so on. This allows the end user to review very specificcriteria for hard to staff jobs with workers that are no longer with thecompany. The search always reevaluates the criteria and applies thesearch as a new search based on the criteria.

The results appear, giving the end user the name in the unique colorcode system, so the user can immediately learn the worker's status. Theend user can take a navigation action such as rolling their mousepointer over the symbol or clicking on the symbol to see what issuesexist with the workers skills and qualifications or the user can clickon the worker and a pop up window will display the worker's file. Theuser can then close the pop up window and return directly to the searchresults without losing their place.

The user can click on a flag box next to the workers they want toschedule. There is an add button that will take the workers who havebeen marked with a check in the flag box and directly assign them to aselected job. When hitting the add button the Job Management window popsup to select a customer and a job. Once the job is selected, that listof workers is shown in the assignment screen for the job. The colorcoded system shows the workers status in relation to the job. The daysof the week are selected, the work type is selected and the workers areposted to the job for those dates. In the event the workers are notqualified, a pop up window appears and the user must list why he isstaffing the unqualified workers. The workers are posted to the job andan email is sent to the predefined management personal that wants toknow when this occurs.

One of ordinary skill in the art would understand that in addition tothe above defined format using predefined variables, a more customizedsearch format could also be implemented and employed, using terms andconnectors or natural language criteria for the search. The skill tobuild and deploy a custom search engine is within the capabilities ofone of ordinary skill in the art.

The end user can set up search criteria within the quick search menu forany topic within the worker file. This search can be saved as apredefined search report for later use. In this illustrative,non-limiting embodiment search criteria is split into four logicalparts: i) detailed information, ii) industry representations (e.g.,documents) iii) skills and iv) custom information, see FIG. 3. Thesefour logical parts can be accessed by simply clicking a correspondingtab.

In the detailed information logical parts, e.g., FIG. 11A, criteria suchas employee number (search for similar), first name (search forsimilar), last name (search for similar), work status (US Citizen,Resident Alien, Work Permit, Other), worker availability, temporaryworker (Yes or No), Has a Car? (Yes or No), languages and other generalinformation can be specified in order to perform the search for workersmeeting the user specified criteria.

In the industry representations logical part, e.g., FIG. 11B, criteriafor worker's qualifications can be specified. For example, documenttypes, document status (up to date, expired, incomplete, pending or anycombination of them) and so on can be specified. In the skills logicalpart, e.g., FIG. 11C, required or desired skills, skill level and so oncan be specified. Custom information logical part, e.g., FIG. 11D,allows the user to specify as search criteria, user defined information(an example of which was explained previously) that the user may havecreated and associated to a worker or workers.

The results of the search are then returned to the user in a form of atable to the right of the screen, for example as illustrated in FIG. 12,with worker names and color coded icons of a person (some other symbolmay be used) determining the status of the worker as it applies to thebusiness logic set in the system. The user then can drill into detailedinformation of the worker (all of the information described under workerlist sub-module) by simply clicking the worker's name. In addition apull down menu to sort results by All Workers, Workers From Last Month,3 Months, 6 Months, 9 Months, One Year or other predefined filter can beprovided.

The user can save any custom search they create to a predefined searchreport list for future use so the same search does not have to berecreated. The search report is then saved to a predefined search list.The predefined search feature allows the user to choose from a list ofpreviously created predefined search reports, allowing the user toquickly review the name, search criteria, date the report was createdand by whom, date it was last modified, search criteria of the reportand so on. This information allows the user to easily evaluate thesearch criteria prior to use. It also tells the user who was the lastperson to modify the report.

In sum, when the user selects to search for particular types of workers,a search form is displayed and document types and other criteria whichcan be specified by the user is loaded as illustrated in FIG. 13. Asillustrated in FIG. 13, the user enters search criteria and the systemsearches the database to find a match between the entered criteria andworkers in the database. For each worker found information such as name,phone number and employee number is displayed. In addition, a link isprovided so that by clicking on the worker the user can view detailedinformation organized by tabs as explained above.

B. Document Management

The document management portion of this exemplary, non-limitingembodiment of the WMS system allows the user to effectively manage theuploading and tracking of key documents as they relate to customers,jobs, workers, vendors, contacts, user accounts, company information,and other user-defined fields of importance. In this exemplaryembodiment, the document management module is split into foursub-modules, as illustrated in FIG. 14: 1) upload wizard, 2) documentreview, 3) qualification update report and 4) information exchange.Information Exchange is an easy solution for transmitting informationbetween users. In this exemplary embodiment, it is also available fromthe main module and is described in greater detail herein below in.sctn.H. The other sub-modules are described in greater detail hereinbelow.

1) Upload Wizard

Documents can be uploaded throughout the system via browse and scanbuttons available on most screens, via barcode scan technology, or via asimple intuitive web based wizard (upload system) or by forwardingdocuments to the 24 hours Document Center described above. By digitizingdocuments the user is able to have any documents available for eachcustomer at anytime. Forms can be loaded with digital signatures fordisbursement with invoices or other correspondence.

The Upload Wizard leads users through the entire process of single ormultiple documents scanning and uploading with the use of dialog boxesand prompts. The wizard is available within the web application and/oras a stand alone application that is installed on the user'scomputer/server. This gives the user the ability to load documents ontheir own computer for faster upload or have the convenience andaccessibility to load them from any web browser. The user can scandirectly to a worker's file and alter that image before it is saved tothe file.

In the conventional scanning systems, many people cringe at the thoughtof scanning file cabinets full of documents. They cringe because theybelieve it is difficult and typically requires a computer savvy personto scan and upload the documents. It is an aspect of the upload wizardto resolve this fear. The scanning is made easy to use, intuitive, fastand affordable. The documents can be scanned from a local scanner usinga web based application. The scan application is currently availablefrom within WMS's web based document management solution. This scanningtool utilizes a library that supports TWAIN, ISIS and WIA scanners. Thescanning tool is downloaded to the client using Active X technology thatallows the application to run on the client computer. From any recordwithin the system where a document can be uploaded, a scan icon ispresent. Clicking on the scan icon allows the user to scan documentsfrom the web directly to that location in the client database. With thisexemplary non-limiting embodiment of the uploading wizard as explainedbelow with reference to FIG. 15A, uploading documents is quick and easy.Moreover, for uploading a large amount of documents, bar code scanningas explained below with reference to FIG. 15B may be implemented.

Uploading One or More Documents

For example, uploading can be performed in the following easy steps, asshown in FIG. 15A. The user selects upload wizard sub-module at step400. At step 401, the user selects a worker, a customer, a job, acompany or other item with which this document should initially beidentified with. For example, FIG. 16A illustrates a user interface forselecting an employee or a worker with which the document should beidentified. Next, at step 402, the type of document is selected. Forexample, FIG. 16B illustrates a user interface for selecting a documenttype with which the document should be identified. This document typecan be from a list of all document types or from a list of a particulargroup of document types (e.g., document types for client X) and so on.As illustrated in FIG. 16B, a new type of document can be created on thefly by using a pop up screen.

Then, at step 403, the user scans in the document or selects a documentby browsing through various existing files. For example, FIG. 16Cillustrates a user interface for selecting a type of uploading toperform. As illustrated in FIG. 16C, to scan a document, the user clickon the scanner icon and a scanning dialogue using a library is opened.The system in which this technology is embedded can then communicatewith any scanner attached to the client computer and acquire an imagefrom that scanner and save it in memory of the client computer oralternatively, the user can view the scanned in image and delete itinstead of uploading it into the system or saving it to a file.Similarly, a selected item can simply be deleted by clicking on thedelete icon.

Once the document is selected or scanned in, at step 404, the user isprovided with the ability to manipulate and edit the image by forexample changing its size and/or resizing the image, color, rotatingand/or flipping the image, creating a mirror image and so on. Forexample, once the image is uploaded, the user can click on the thumbnailof that image to manipulate it. Once the changes are made, the useruploads or imports the document into the system at step 405.

Next, at step 406, the user sets the necessary data for this uploadeddocument. By way of an example as illustrated in FIG. 16D, the user setsan expiration date for the document. Moreover, as illustrated in FIG.16D, the user may also set an issue date using a pop up calendar.Depending on the expiration date, as shown at step 407, the uploadeddocument may replace an already existing document, as shown at step 409a. Then, the already existing document will be stored in the archive andthe uploaded document will be displayed as current, step 409 a.Alternatively, if the expiration date is before the expiration date ofthe corresponding, already existing document, then the uploaded documentis stored in the archive, and the already existing document remainscurrent, step 409 b. Manual override is also possible, step 408 (e.g.the current document may be stored directly in the archive and the olddocument will remain current and so on). FIG. 16D illustrates a userinterface allowing the user to select document placement, where if the“smart” option is selected, the system will automatically place thedocument based on the expiration date. On the other hand, a manualoverride is provided “force into current” or “force into an archive.” Atstep 410, the user is presented with all the entered information and isasked to confirm, e.g., FIG. 16E and at step 411, the user is askedwhether more documents are to be uploaded, e.g., FIG. 16F. If the userselects to upload more documents, then the user repeats the process fromstep 401. As a result, a document or any number of documents are quicklystored and relationally linked to a worker, customer, job and so on.

Barcode Scanning

The barcode scanning facilitates scanning and uploading of large amountof documents. 2D Datamatrix barcodes are generated from any modulewithin the application. These robust barcodes can hold vast amounts ofinformation specifying the exact document location and associatedmetadata. The barcodes are then attached to the documents and arescanned or faxed using the latest document capture technology.

From any record within the system where a document can be uploaded, abarcode icon or some other user interface representation for the barcodeis present. Clicking on the barcode icon allows the user to fill outinformation regarding the document they wish to scan as illustrated inFIG. 15B step 500. The barcode is then generated and printed out asillustrated in step 501. At step 502, the user must then apply thegenerated barcode to the document in question. The user then scans thedocument as shown in step 503. Depending on the information stored inthe barcode as shown in step 504, the document is either uploaded to theappropriate location in the database as shown at step 505, or thedocument proceeds to the inbox for reconciliation as shown at step 506.When documents are scanned using only a coversheet with a barcode toassociate them to a file or document type, they will needreconciliation. The user receives a message in their inbox alerting themthat documents have arrived that need to be reconciled. The user opensthat message as shown in step 507. The page is loaded with thedocuments, document types and records where the document may be storedas shown in step 508. The user must then drag and drop those documentsto their appropriate locations as shown in step 509. In step 510, asummary page is loaded for the user to confirm as shown in step 511. Ifeverything looks ok the user allows the system to upload the documentsto their mapped locations as shown in step 512.

Generating a Barcode

A barcode can be generated in various places throughout the mainmodules. For example, before scanning in a document or an image, theuser can click on a barcode icon and a screen to create a bar code willpop up. The following information can be keyed into the bar code: thedocument is current or archived, whether it is an original document or acopy, whether it is an initial document, the expiration date, issuedate, reference value, custom fields and so on.

Once the information is keyed in, a user can generate the barcode bysimply clicking on “generate” button. A new bar code is generated andthe pop up window for barcode generation is closed. Each type ofdocument that can be scanned will have a barcode scan icon. By selectingthis barcode scan icon a window comes up asking the user if they wish toprint the bar code for that document. By selecting yes, a bar code isprinted for that precise document for that job, worker, or other recordin the database.

Scanning Documents Using Barcodes

The user simply attaches the above generated barcode labels to thedocuments and these barcodes are read from the label and are used duringupload. The documents are then scanned using the latest document capturetechnology including the ability to fax documents with the attachedbarcodes directly to the desired record within the system. When faxingthe documents, the file is converted to an image similar to using ascanner and can be routed to its appropriate record and database basedon the number dialed and the barcode attached to the document. Once thedocuments have been scanned they are immediately uploaded into thesystem and are attached to the appropriate record with the appropriatecustom fields. No reconciliation of scanned images is necessary.

Bulk Scanning Using Covers Sheets

To ease the process of capturing large amounts of related documents, theuser can generate cover sheets, each of which associates a group ofdocuments to a record in the database. Barcode labels can also becreated for each document specifying the user defined document type andwhether the file is current or archived. The coversheet is simply placedover the stack of documents and scanned or faxed using the latestdocument capture technology. The user has the option of printing justthe coversheet or they can attach document type barcodes to eachdocument to ease the process of reconciliation.

In addition, using a screen similar to the direct barcode scan popup,barcodes that identify a group name, for example, a particular worker,job, contact, customer or company information, can be created. The barcode will be used as a cover page to assign the following scanneddocuments to the specified record. The document type is not specified onthe cover sheet. Once a user clicks on the scan button, the document ordocuments will be loaded to the specified location. One or manydifferent documents can be loaded at a time.

For example, the user likes to scan the documents associated with JoeSmith's worker file. The user then loads the necessary documents into ahigh speed scanner with cover sheets between each worker's documents.When more than one worker is loaded at a time, a list of worker's willbe shown after the scan process with the total number of documentsloaded for each. The user selects the worker and a screen displays Joe'sname and picture as well as the documents loaded to his file. Icons onthe right side of the page may be provided to represent each differentdocument loaded. On the left side of the page, a list of the activedocument types may be provided.

The user clicks the first icon representing a document and the selecteddocument pops up. The user selects the document type that represents thedocument and selects load. The document is then saved to the worker fileas that document type. A new screen may appear showing the document onthe left, large enough to read easily. On the right side of the screenare the necessary information fields that have been set up to becompleted for that document type. The user enters the information andclicks save. The user is then returned to the main worker screen wherethe remaining documents to be loaded are listed. The user repeats thisprocess until the documents have been loaded. When they return to thelist of workers, Joes name is checked off as confirmed. The userproceeds to work their way through the list of workers and documents. Ifa document is loaded to the wrong file, a command within the systemallows the user to move the document to another worker. This allows theuser to make adjustments on the fly if they made a mistake with thecover page.

Bulk Scanning Using Document Type Labels

For example, the user may want to load a document to a job called “NIHCeiling Tile” for Marcor Environmental™. To print specific documenttypes for a job, the user simply opens the job named “NIH Ceiling Tileremoval” and selects the document type to scan. In this case, the usermay select the document type contract. A screen pops up showing thecontract files already present for this job. The bar code icon mayreside on the lower left corner of the pop up. The user may click theicon and will be asked “do you want to print a bar code for NIH CeilingTile Removal Contract Document?” The user clicks “Yes”, and the bar codeis printed. If a contract already exists, the system then asks whetherthe document is going to be the current document or archived. The userselects an appropriate document type, enabling the system to properlymanage the document after scanning. The user can print one or many barcode labels and then simply attach them to the appropriate document,enabling the system to properly identify the documents during scanning.

The user then opens the upload screen and selects upload. The documentsare then scanned and uploaded to the database, attaching directly to therecord and document type as directed by the bar code. The user can thenopen the upload screen to view a list of documents that have been loadedbut not yet confirmed. The list shows the documents in order of thegeneral topic. For example, if many documents were loaded to one job,the list would display the documents by jobs. If workers and job wereloaded, the list would then show the workers, then each worker, theneach document. The user would then select each document and confirm themone by one loading information about them as described above. A screenwith information that needed to be drawn from the document would bedisplayed allowing the user to enter the information. Tile user workstheir way through the list until the required information is entered.The user has the option to enter the information fields immediately orto postpone data entry to a later time. A document will not be removedfrom the list until it is confirmed. Once the document is confirmed itis removed from the list as complete.

Through a filter, the user can select to view the loaded documents, onlyactive documents, deleted documents or confirmed documents. Othervariations are within the scope of the invention. The user can deletedocuments when they are first viewed. The user can move the documents toother locations as they are loaded to allow the user to easily correctcover sheets or barcodes that may have been out of order. The user canattach email notifications to user accounts to inform them thatdocuments have been loaded. This can be done by default for documenttypes or done on a particular file. The document screen will display thenumber of pages scanned for each document cover.

After a bulk upload is completed, the system allows the user toreconcile the uploaded scanned documents to their specific locationswithin the client database. This scan management solution provides easyto use lists of the documents that have been captured and the locationswhere they can be stored. The user simply maps the documents to theirlocations and enters the necessary information fields. In the case ofcustom documents, a user will also be able to associate a group ofdocuments to be the pages within one document class. The user can alsospecify the order of those pages and the associated information fields.

In sum, the exemplary upload wizard is consistent with providing an easyand quick way to upload documents, a single document or a large numberof documents. To facilitate bulk uploads cover sheets with barcodes andindividual document barcodes may be provided. The upload wizard is anefficient and cost effective solution for uploading documents into adatabase, which also attempts to eliminate duplicative entry at everystep of the way.

2) Document Reviews

The WMS solution for monitoring documents is revolutionary to anyindustry that has to monitor numerous documents with expiration dates.WMS has invented a method through a color-coded system that allows theuser to review thousands of documents and workers within minutes forvalidation of required documents.

WMS allows the user to see the date of expiration of the document on anicon that is located in a grid format. An exemplary screen for documentreview is illustrated in FIG. 17. FIG. 17 illustrates on the left sideof the exemplary screen, the worker names are displayed, while thedocument names are displayed on the top part of the screen. Inside thegrid, there are color-coded icons that display the necessary informationabout the document. For example, green color coding may represent thatthe document is current. Yellow color coding may represent that thedocument will expire within 30 days. The cell containing the documentinformation may be displayed in red if the document has expired, or ismissing or incomplete. If a user has scheduled the worker to update thisparticular document the cell color will turn to blue. Of course, one ofordinary skill in the art would understand that different color-codingschemes can be used to differentiate the various statuses of thedocuments.

At each intersection of document type and worker name, the followingicons along with the expiration date may be displayed as illustrated inFIG. 17. FIG. 17 illustrates a document icon displayed within the cellbetween the lock icon and the calendar icon. If the user has no rightsto view the document, the document icon is solid white, and the usercannot access or view the document. If the user does have rights to viewthe document, the document icon contains lines and links the user to thepopup of that document. If no document is on file as illustrated in FIG.17, instead of the document icon, the term “missing” is displayed. Byselecting the icon, the user can pull up the actual document and reviewthe information. By selecting ‘close’ the user is back in the reviewscreen.

By selecting the calendar icon, which may be present in all documents asillustrated in FIG. 17 or only in the documents that need updating, theschedule update menu pops up and the user can schedule the worker to anupdate. By going to schedule an update report, the user can view theupdates that have been scheduled for workers and mark them as completeor delete them as well as schedule new updates.

Documents can be reviewed in numerous formats. Predefined reports areset up that allow the user to review the documents, expired documents,incomplete documents, pending documents, particular work type documentsand custom reports. This allows the user rapid review of documents andthe ability to set WMS to particular company needs. One of ordinaryskill in the art would easily recognize that variations in the reportssuch as those mentioned below and others are within the scope of theinvention.

In this illustrative, non-limiting embodiment, the review screens allowthe user to verify, monitor and schedule the necessary updates. When aWork Type or New Job Criteria is created, a document review screen isdynamically generated in the Document review list. The end user isprovided with a simple and easy access to review documents associatedwith the job and work type, for example. When a new document type isadded the new document is dynamically added to the All Document Screenfor viewing. This allows the end user to view All Documents and see eachdocument type that is in the WMS system. In the conventional systems,the end users have to run a query, set up custom reports, set up customscreens and in many instances enter information twice, whereas in thisexemplary embodiment, the document type is entered one time only. Thenit is dynamically generated into reviewable lists. The user can quicklyget what they need without having to program a new report to retrievethe necessary information. The document reports can be saved for futurereference and dispatched to other parties.

Moreover, the documents can be verified from any of the document reviewscreens. Verification is a process by which a user can validatedocuments. The user can check document images, expirations andauthenticity while recording information related to the validationprocess in an easy to use table. In addition, a clear concise grid willinform the system user whether or not a worker's documents have beenaccepted using clearly identifiable icons. Fields within the individualrecord can also be validated. For example, a worker's social securitynumber, name, address or phone number could be validated right insidethe worker file. FIG. 17 illustrates an icon in the form of a lock whichrepresents the validation of this information. The lock may be colorcoded based on whether the document was verified, and which level ofpersonnel verified it and so on.

In this illustrative, non-limiting embodiment, document reviews aresplit into the following logical parts, see FIG. 14: i) all documentsreview (also mentioned above), ii) job documents review iii) work typedocuments review iv) custom documents review and v) saved customdocuments review. Each of these logical parts are described in greaterdetail herein below after the detailed description of the verificationprocess, which can be implemented from any one of these exemplarylogical parts.

Verification of Industry Representations

Regulatory authorities require copies of certain documentation forworkers who are going to work on secure sites. These secure sites mayinclude government facilities, state facilities, commercial facilities,educational faculties, and industrial facilities. The documents requiredrange from a copy of a driver's license, a physical to work, a licenseto work in specific trade or industry, copy of work history and numerousother required certifications or regulations. In the conventionalmethods, the user arrives to the work site with copies of the requiredwork documents or the user's customer makes copies of the documents onsite. The user's customer documents are then tracked and monitored forauthenticity and expiration by the customer. When documents expire, theyhave to be updated. The current tracking of these documents range fromnotes on a pad to databases that have been created to track theinformation.

The secure document solution makes it easier to monitor this delicateinformation. The exemplary WMS utilizes drill down component, allowingthe user to click on an icon once, and view a document, a color codesystem facilitates the monitoring of the documents, and a notescapability allows the user's customer the ability to document theverification of the document. By utilizing these methods the user andthe customer can share the database, enabling the information to beentered one time, it can be verified one time, and then monitored untilits expiration. Upon expiration, the user and the customer are notifiedand an updated version of the document is required. The prior documentis archived and both the user and the customer retain the history of thedocument. As explained in greater detail above.

In sum, in this illustrative, non-limiting embodiment, the uploading ofdocuments may be performed in three different methods. The first methodallows the user to load documents and enter the expiration dates intothe system, and then confirm the dates with two sets of initials. Thesecond method allows the user to load the documents and enter the dates,then request the system to verify the dates and upload the documents.The system may have each document reviewed by two or more people toconfirm the dates of the documents. If a discrepancy is found, the useris contacted and the issue is resolved. Upon verification, the documentsare uploaded. The third method enables the loading of the documents andentering the dates for the user, two individuals verify the informationand then the user verifies the information. Upon verification by thethree individuals, the document or documents are uploaded. The user canrequest review of these documents prior to uploading for dateauthenticity or they can confirm the dates themselves.

Different aspects of a document, record or industry representation inthe database can be validated during the verification process. Namely, auser can verify that the scanned image, or other file type is correctand the image or file is accepted. FIG. 18 illustrates an exemplaryinterface for verifying the document. The user can check that theexpiration and issue date on that document matches the expiration andissue date entered into the system. The user can then validate that thedocument is authentic by contacting the training provider, physician orother party who issued the document in question. The user may alsoinsert comments regarding the document's authenticity. The user can alsoverify all custom information fields associated with the document.

In addition to manually calling or faxing an issuer to validate adocument, the system has the ability to electronically validate thedocument through web services between the system and the issuing party'swebsite or via fax. For example, a VA Asbestos license number could besent to the Virginia department of Professional and OccupationalRegulation website to be verified. A message would then be returned tothe system notifying the user of the document's validity. In the case ofsocial security numbers, one or many workers' numbers could be faxeddirectly from within the system to the Social Security Administration(SSA). The SSA responds with a faxed list of the numbers that areaccepted as authentic or rejected as fraudulent.

The user may have the ability to accept, reject or mark pending any ofthe above mentioned fields. In addition, the user can associate thecontact information of the appropriate document issuer to that documentrecord in the verification table to be easily accessed for futurereference. Any correspondences received regarding the document can beattached to the verification record for easy retrieval in the memotable.

In addition, a user may be allowed to enter notes associated with thedocuments and view previous entries made by other users. A memo can alsobe flagged as confidential for only permissible users to view. A memocreated by the system or the user can also be marked for dispatch. If amemo is marked for dispatch, it will be dispatched along with thedocument during information exchange. In this exemplary embodiment,manual memos can be deleted, however automatic memos are permanent andcannot be deleted. In addition, the user has the ability to highlightportions of the document by a navigation action such as clicking anddragging their mouse. They can then insert those memos into thehighlighted areas.

Once information is verified, a color coded icon (as explained above andillustrated in FIG. 17) of a lock or some other symbol appears next tothe document, representing a number that represents the highestverification level as it corresponds to the status of that document. Thefollowing illustrative, non-limiting, color coded symbols could beemployed to quickly alert the user whether the industry representationhas been verified or not. An open lock may symbolize an Un-ValidatedDocuments and a closed green lock may symbolize accepted industryrepresentations and contain a number of the highest verification levelwho accepted the document. A closed yellow lock may symbolize a pendingdocument and contain the number of the highest verification level whomarked the document as pending verification process. A closed red lockmay symbolize a document that is rejected and contain the number of thehighest verification level who rejected the document. Of course, one ofordinary skill in the art will readily recognize that other variationsare possible.

Moreover, a small legend may be provided explaining each verificationlevel and its attributes and permissions. For example, some users mayhave rights to alter the previously mentioned items, while others mayonly have very selective privileges. For example, a level 3 clearancecan complete clearance of image and expiration but not contactverification. Multiple levels are created to represent the hierarchy ofuser accounts as they validate and reject documents. Users can set upthe accounts to correspond to actual positions within the company. Forexample, a user may wish to create Human Resources, Accountant, ProjectManager and Owner levels of verification and associate them to eachposition within the company.

All parties in community can verify documents as long as they aregranted a verification level greater than zero. They will also be ableto share notes if so requested. The notes are stamped by user andcompany. Users can also send verification information emails. Theverification levels control the rights to the various stages ofverification. Each verification level is assigned a number thatrepresents its hierarchy. For example, HR may be level 1, whileAccounting is level 2 and the Owner is level 3. Each level may haveincreased rights to the verification process. The level with the highestnumber has the greatest access to the verification process.

To further explain, a user may wish for the HR personnel to only havethe ability to verify document images and expiration dates without theability to validate document authenticity or attach files associated tospecific documents. The user may also give or take away the rights toview other entries to the verification table made by users of equal orhigher levels. The verification levels also dictate the hierarchy ofvalidation. For example, if an HR personnel accepted a document but uponvalidation by the owner the document comes back fraudulent, the ownercould then reject the document. However, the HR person could not rejecta document marked accepted by the owner. In addition, the HR person mayor may not be given rights to upload a new document or edit theinformation pertaining to the existing image.

In this illustrative, non-limiting embodiment, the user may have rightto verify the industry representation (e.g. a document image) and acceptor reject this representation. In addition, the user may have the rightto verify the expiration date by accepting or rejecting it. In addition,if the user is currently checking the validity of the industryrepresentation or the date, the user may set it to “pending” to alertothers that the industry representation or the date is underverification.

More specifically, the verification process occurs by clicking averification icon, for example, and a verification screen illustrated inFIG. 18 pops up. This verification screen is a combination of a userworksheet, document details and a simple grid containing the history ofthe verification information associated with that document. The pop upscreen may include the information pertaining to the document as itappears in the specified record.

For example, in the case of a worker's asbestos certificate, an image ofthe certificate appears along with the indexed information. In thisexample, the title of the pop up is the document type and worker's namealong with the status of the document. In the table to the right of thedocument image, for example, are the custom information fields such asexpiration date, issue date, reference number, creation date and user,last modification date and the user who modified it, file size, in whatform it was originally scanned, and whether or not it is the initialdocument in a series of documents as illustrated in FIG. 18. Othersimilar information may be provided and such variations are clearlywithin the scope of the invention.

For example, below the document details, a document verification tablemay be provided as explained in greater detail below. The verificationtable is displayed when verification levels exist as illustrated in FIG.18. The verification levels are listed along with the name of the lastuser of that level to verify the document. In order to more easily viewthe level of verification, a black arrow may highlight the level towhich the user belongs. Clicking on his or her verification levelprovides a small pop up containing items to be verified and options forverifying. Only the fields the user has permission to clear will appearwith radio buttons or a pull down menus to accept, reject or mark thefields as pending. For those users without specific permissions forverification, that functionality will be disabled in the worksheet. Whena document image is accepted by someone of Level 1 verification, theusers of level 1 would see that image as accepted. Theaccepted/rejected/pending statuses would apply to other users of thesame level.

For example, the user can Accept, mark Pending, Reject or ignore (N/A)the document issue and expiration dates and its validity while alsoincluding comments on the process. The user could include notes aboutnot being able to reach a document issuer, or waiting for a call back.Upon saving the actions, the verification table is stamped with theuser's selections. For example, if the user accepted the expiration andissue dates, a green “Accepted” would appear in the Expiration column,illustrated in FIG. 18, on that user's verification level row. If theuser marked the image as pending, a black “Pending” would appear in theImage column on that user's verification level row. If the user markedthe validity of the document as rejected, a red “Rejected” would appearin the validity column on that user's verification level row. The rowwould also be stamped with the user's name and the date of the lastmodification. The user will enter and save their verificationinformation and the verification detail history table will be populated.One of ordinary skill in the art would understand that this is providedby way of an example only and a number of other variations are possible.

An additional portion of the screen is designated as an area forassociating a contact to that document's validation process. Forexample, from a drop down list the user can select the contactinformation for the doctor who issued a physical for a worker or theuser could select the name and contact information of a trainingprovider who issued a certificate. The bottom portion of the pop upincludes the document verification actions in a memo details table.

The table of this illustrative, non-limiting embodiment, includesautomatic memos generated every time an image, expiration date, orvalidation is accepted, rejected or marked pending. These automaticmemos are shown for everyone in the system that has made a change to theverification of that document. Memos are also generated every time thedocument details are altered, such as expiration date, or a new image isuploaded. These messages would be hard-coded into the system andinserted as memos in the table when the specified change is made. Thetable also includes the manual memos that are entered to track theprocess of validating a document. For example, a user could enter a memonoting that they had called a training provider to verify a certificatebut no one had answered so the user left a message. As many memos asneeded could be entered. Based on a combo box filter the user can decideif they want to see messages belonging to all or individual verificationlevels.

Alternatively, the user has the ability to automatically fax or email acopy of document directly from the verification screen to the document'sissuer for validation. A fax can be sent via a local printer/fax. A popup will show the printer commands, while displaying contact information.In addition, the user can use a web service fax, such as e-Fax, and theinformation will be pre-loaded from the contact screen. A cover sheetwill be sent, displaying confidentiality disclaimers, instructions andreturn fax information. A request for verification will be stored in theValidation table (explained in further detail below), time, date anduser request. A response from the contact can then be attached to theattachment field.

Information stored on the web can also be auto-authenticated. Forexample, worker names, social security numbers or other industryrepresentations may be entered and validated against a state issuingagency's database to verify that the worker in question actuallyattained the training specified by the certificate under scrutiny. Inaddition, links may be provided to the websites of physicians, trainingfacilities and other third parties that may be able to validatedocuments. The user can validate a contact for approval of certaindocument types. When validating a document, the pre-approved contact isalready authorized as a dependable authenticator. For example, in thecase of training schools, each training school can be validated forspecific training. Each training facility can be associated to adocument type and in turn validated for the pre-cleared type oftraining. Validations can be done automatically if the state posts theschool approvals on the web or the user can validate the information.The user can also post expiration dates of licenses as smart alerts forannual confirmation.

Each validation performed will be stored in the system in a memo field.Each memo field may be preceded by a flag box allowing the user toselect one or many memos. These memos could then be faxed, emailed orprinted. The attachments to a memo would be attached as separatedocuments to an email, or would need to be opened individually for faxor print. The verification detail history table includes a column withcheck boxes determining whether or not any user is allowed to dispatchthat memo as illustrated in FIG. 18. The next column may include an editbutton, which brings the user into a pop up allowing them to edit thememo. The fields can be edited on the manual memos. For automaticallygenerated memos only the check boxed for marking a document asconfidential or able to be dispatched can be edited.

The next column may include the date and time stamp when that memo wascreated or generated. The fourth column may reveal the verificationlevel of the user who created that memo; it also may allow the user tosort by all, some or one verification level as illustrated in FIG. 18.The following column may include the initials of the user who createdthat memo or made the change that caused it to be auto generated. Thesixth column may provide the user with the ability to filter byautomatic or manual memos. The next column may contain text from thememos. The following three columns may include the results of theverification for the document expiration date, image, and validity,these columns are illustrated in FIG. 18.

The following column may include a check box for marking the memo asconfidential. When a memo is marked confidential then it cannot bedispatched, and when a memo is marked dispatched it cannot beconfidential. A memo is left unmarked for confidentiality and fordispatch by default for modification memos. The rights to read theconfidential memos would be restricted according to user preferences.The second to last column may include a check box to mark the documentas an item that can or cannot be dispatched. The very next column wouldallow the user to upload an attachment for each memo. The last columnwould only be visible to someone with system administrator rights. Thiscolumn would include an icon for easily deleting the memo. In the eventthat the level assigned to a user changed, the user cannot access arecord if his new level no longer has rights to the process in question.

At the bottom of the table, a button may be provided for adding a newrecord to the table as well as the buttons to Print, Fax or Email theselected records. A notify button would also be present allowing theuser to edit the contacts that have been pre-specified to receivenotification of changes to a document validation. From this screen theuser may also access the document in the worker's file via a pop upscreen, to make any necessary changes, such as deleting and rescanningthe document or altering the expiration date. Entries in to the memotable, however, may only be deleted by the system administrator. Someusers may want the preference to be able to make deletion a top downprocess, where users of a certain level could make changes to the levelsbelow them. Of course, one of ordinary skill in the art would understandthat other variations of the validation table and user rights may beprovided.

The document verification detail history table can be exclusive to thecompany's internal history or may include information input by the restof the community including third party evaluators. Whether or notdocument memos entered by the external community members are shown willbe based on user and company preferences regarding the permissions eachuser is granted. Notes sent by the third party community members viadocument dispatch may be shown in the table alongside internal notes.

For example, a contractor may send documents to an IH with no notes. TheIH validates the information and sends the confirmation back to thecontractor. This confirmation would then populate the verification tableas an IH Verification record. Clicking on the record will bring up theIH's worksheet which will include the verification notes as entered bythe IH. The display of this information to a user would be set up incompany preferences that determine which users can view community notes.Another example would be third party security notes. A contractor couldoutsource a specific document for validation. The document would bedispatched and upon receipt would be returned with notes of thevalidation made by the third party in their individual verificationworksheet.

The table would also include a flag box next to each user for whether ornot that information should be dispatched. For example, if the flag boxnext to the HR person's account is checked then their notes will bedispatched. When the user clicks on the HR person's name, the user willbe taken into their worksheet, where they can further specify which oftheir individual notes will or will not be allowed to be dispatched. Ifthe HR person's flag box is not selected no notes within their accountwill be dispatched. Of course, one of ordinary skill in the art willreadily understand that this is provided by way of an example only andother variations are possible.

In addition, when the user adds a memo or clicks on one to view thedetails, the user will see a form that includes the details of the memostatement. In addition, the user will be able to add an attachment (e.g.by browsing through files). A text box is present, where the bulk of theinformation is entered. Also a mechanism for reporting on informationdrawn from the memo fields is provided. The user can choose one or manyworkers and one or many memos to dispatch or print.

The system will also store information regarding any changes that aremade to a document record or verification status. A user can set upautomatic transfer of information through web services, fax or email, asverification results are made. Specifically, user rights are requiredfor displaying information both for company verification and communityverification. If a document is rejected and rescanned or edited, historyof the changes made is stored. A log of verification information andhistory of changes will be kept for review.

The verification process is performed internally and externally. Acompany can set up the verification table to include only internalentries and send smart alerts internally only. However, the system alsoallows the user to include third parties in this process. Externalcommunity members such as an IH may be granted access via email, login,web services or information exchange whereby they can view some or allof the records associated with the document verification or they canactually participate in the verification process—verifying and rejectingdocuments. In addition, external community members can be included inemail notification, smart alerts or links to inform them that thedocuments have been verified. Documents can be cleared individually orin batches for required work types. The system will keep track of thedispatched verifications.

A number of filters may be set up to review verification table for thedocument. For example, a filter by document type, worker status,verification status, accounts, verification level and so on. Thisexemplary verification process provides the user with a quick and easyway to authenticate industry representations. The results may bedisplayed on any one of the document review screens.

i) All Documents Review

All Documents Review is a dynamically generated screen that displays thedocuments in the system at one time for the workers as illustrated inFIG. 17 and explained above. The screen can be filtered for viewing onlya specified group of workers or documents. For example, if a new OSHAFall Protection Program was added in Document Type, the OSHA FallProtection Document would dynamically be added to the review screen foreach worker. The document information is immediately available forviewing without another single setting or adjustment to the menu. Once afilter is set, the all documents review screen will display worker'slast and first name and employee number for the workers consistent withthe set filter. As way of an example, a filter for status of the workersor work type may be set. The end user may want to view the currentworkers, all workers, last 3 months, last 6 months or last year workers.In addition, documents filters may be set. By way of an example, theuser may desire to view only the expired documents, incompletedocuments, pending documents and so on. In addition, a filter for thedocument types may be set such as view fitness tests, physicals,asbestos certificates and so on. In this illustrative, non-limitingembodiment, these filters are implemented with simple checkboxes,thereby allowing the user to select any number of desired filters. Ofcourse, one of ordinary skill in the art would understand that differentfilter schemes can be used to differentiate various documents andworkers.

The all documents review screen shows workers with the documents asillustrated in FIG. 17, in a color coded scheme. In addition, FIG. 17illustrates for each document an icon for scheduling an update, forverification and for viewing the document is provided. In particular,the system loads the workers and document types that correspond to theset filter (if no filter is set, all the workers are loaded). Asillustrated in FIG. 19, the user first selects from the filter whichdocument types to display, the user then selects the statuses of theworkers in question. The user may select the statuses of the documenttypes previously chosen. For example, the user may wish to retrieve areport of only “Expired” or “Incomplete” “Physicals”. After selectingthe filtering criteria, the user then clicks on a button to refresh thereport as illustrated in FIG. 19. For each worker, worker name andemployee number may be displayed. Then each document for the worker isanalyzed in accordance with the expiration date, whether or not thedocument is present in the record or missing, and whether the dateinformation is incomplete to set the color of the box. In addition, ifthe user has rights to view the document type in question, an icon forviewing the document will be provided as explained above with respect toFIG. 19.

ii) Job Documents Review

Job Documents Review is a dynamically generated screen that produces areview screen with the documents and qualifications for a specific job.This enables the user to review the documents specifically regarding thejob in question. Furthermore, it allows the administrator to viewinformation about the job knowing that the job parameters had been setaccording to management and the necessary documents are automaticallyincluded on the list. This helps eliminate common key stroke errors thatcould otherwise result in double entry. Any document required on the jobis displayed dynamically in the Job Document Review Screen.

For example, if a contractor had a new Asbestos Job in Maryland and itwas set up in the job file under the name “NIH Building 6”, with anAsbestos Work Type, the Job Documents Review screen would dynamicallyhave a job called “NIH Building 6”. By clicking on that drop down filterfrom the list, the user would immediately be able to view the workerdocuments assigned for that job or all the workers in the user's staff.The review screen would display the workers names and the documentsassociated with the Asbestos Work Type in the State of Maryland. In theconventional systems, this type of information takes hours to assembleand review. The information has to be updated and monitored, daily,whereas in this illustrative embodiment, not only are the documentsimmediately available for review with the ability to know every detailabout the document, but everything is done without a single additionalkey stroke for setting up the information from the user. Everything isentered one time when the job is initially set up, for example.

As with the previous logical part, setting a variety of filters ispossible, e.g., FIG. 20, the filters are illustrated on the left handside. A filter can be set to view jobs of only particular customers, orto view only particular jobs as illustrated in FIG. 20. Moreover, afilter can be set to view only particular types of work, documents, andworkers. For example, the user can select to only view Asbestos workersand/or only the current workers and/or workers assigned to the job orworkers from the payroll. Similarly, by way of an example, the user canselect to view only the expired or incomplete documents needed for thejob. Of course, one of ordinary skill in the art would understand thatdifferent filter schemes can be used to differentiate various documents,workers, jobs and customers as may be necessary for efficient review ofjob related documents.

iii) Work Type Documents Review

Work Type Documents Review is a dynamically generated screen thatdisplays the Work Type Documents. When a new Work Type is created, theWork Type Document Review screen is dynamically updated with the newWork Type name. The work types are displayed on a list and the user cansimply click on the name of the Work Type and the documents associatedwith it will be displayed. FIG. 21 illustrates an exemplary display forfiltering the workers by “work type documents”. This may be especiallyhelpful to see which workers have the necessary documents for aparticular work type. For example, the end user can select a location(e.g., state) and work type and immediately view the status of thedocuments required for this work type in that particular state for theworkers. The documents will be shown in a color coded scheme describedabove to alert the user to missing or expired documents. Again, as inthe logical parts above, a number of filters can be set. For example, afilter for current workers, all workers, last 3 months, last 6 months,last year may be set. Similarly, by way of an example, a filter for thedocument status (expired, up to date, missing, soon due for renewal,etc) can be set. Of course, one of ordinary skill in the art wouldunderstand that different filter schemes can be used to differentiatevarious documents and workers.

iv) Custom Documents Review

Custom Documents Review is designed to give the user the ability tocreate their own document review screens and save any report format theycreate. In addition, it allows the user to save the information in thereport for future use. This allows the user to save hours throughout theyear that would otherwise be spent recreating the same reviewinformation over and over. Through this process, the end user isprovided with an ability to save the report criteria information and thedate for the report at that particular moment in time as well. Thisprocess gives the user the ability to save and dispatch or print thereport to anyone who needs to receive it. The feature gives the user theability to capture that moment in time for the documents. In theconventional systems, the user would have to use a report writer toprint or dispatch this report. However, in this exemplary, non-limitingembodiment, the end user can do it right from any document reviewscreen.

After selecting the custom documents review, which can be accessed bysimply clicking a button, a screen is displayed that lists the documentsin the system. There are check boxes next to each work type. The usercan select whichever documents they wish to review and click on a buttonto name the report. The report is displayed on the screen under itsname, showing only the documents the user requested. The user can editthe form at anytime by, for example, clicking edit. The user can modifythe status by making the report inactive in the status menu. If the userwants to reactivate the report, the user selects document report historyand the inactive reports.

Again, a number of filters can be set up in this logical part. Forexample, a filter for document types, status of documents and workerstatus can be set. These filters facilitate creation of a report or toreview the custom documents. Of course, one of ordinary skill in the artwould understand that different filter schemes can be used todifferentiate various custom documents and workers.

v) Saved Documents Review

Once a user has created a report, the report can be saved and will belisted on this screen for future reference. The Saved Documents Reviewincludes the Name of Document Report, the Workers Name and ID with anicon to pop up worker file, and the documents requested. These reportscan be saved to run on new data or can be saved with the existing dataonly. The report can be dispatched as an email or printed at anytimefrom the report screen.

3) Qualification Update Reports

The qualification update report is a report that details which updateseach worker has been assigned to. From any document review screen, aworker can be scheduled to take an update, this includes but is notlimited to scheduling for training, physicals, update driver's license,an industry certificate, employment information, and any other industryrepresentation or any other type of dated criteria the user needs toschedule with a specific work type.

WMS manages an update contact list that holds information for eachcontact. A drop down list appears in the schedule menu and the userselects the vendor (i.e., the vendor performing the report update) theywant and assigns a date for the worker to obtain an update. Once theupdate is scheduled, the screen, which was one color turns to anothercolor. The new color shows the user that the worker has been scheduledfor training or an update. The user will no longer have to waste timechecking whether or not they had scheduled the worker. This feature isconsistent with saving time for the user. Visually, the user will beable to view the document review screen and recognize the status of theworkers, without having to remember who was and was not scheduled.

After the date of the scheduled update or training, the cell turns backto its status color. For example if the document has already expired,the cell would turn back to red. In addition, an email is sent to theuser reminding them to check on the scheduled update or training andupdate the document information in the system. When a new document isloaded for the update, the system automatically sets the update ascomplete and adjusts the color of this document.

The WMS can also have an “advertisement” that is linked to the emailupdate feature. Since WMS knows what type of document is being updated,when the user clicks the calendar on the icon to schedule the update, an“advertisement” for the local “Update Vendor” is displayed. Theadvertisement is a direct link to the site and enables the user toimmediately schedule the worker for the update. Advertisements will besold for each type of update entity and will be controlled by zip codeas determined by the worker or company's address. These are twovariables that the user can predefine in the system set up menu. Ofcourse, if this option is not desired, it can be turned off during theset up of the system by the administrator or during use by the end user.Alternatively, the end user can just click “no thanks” button and enterdirectly into the contact list.

For example, when a worker needs a new physical, the closest facility tothe worker or the company, depending on how the system is set up, willpop up with a schedule and availability, with everything pre-filled outfor the user. The user would pick a date and everything would bill andpopulate both databases automatically. The “update vendor” will have tofollow specific guidelines in order to advertise and make it simple forthe user. This method will benefit both parties.

In short, to schedule a worker for an update an example of which isillustrated in FIG. 22, the user selects the worker and the documenttype. Next, as illustrated in FIG. 22, a number of training locationsincluding contact information for each location are loaded into thesystem and are displayed to the user. The user selects a location orcontact and the date for the update or training. Then, the user chooseswhether it is a scheduled training or performed training (that is,completed training) and saves the information into the database asillustrated in FIG. 22. Next, FIG. 22 illustrates that the user may alsoedit, print or view a selected training location and contact, by simplyselecting a worker, document type and a training location or a contact.The user may then select the date of training, choose whether the dateis a scheduled or completed date, and save the information into thesystem.

In sum, the document management module provides a complete solution formanaging documents associated with workers. The documents can easily beuploaded from a file or scanned in using barcodes and barcodecoversheets. In addition, the documents could easily be viewed, verifiedand scheduled for update, with this color coded worker managementsystem. In addition, a number of complex searches can be performed bysimple set up of the screen. The user can view, edit, delete or adddocuments quickly and easily with this worker management module.

C. Job Management

Job Management is a powerful module that enables the user to takecomplete control of the execution and monitoring of their jobs sites.This module allows the user to match skills and qualifications withpredefined job requirements set by work types allowing precise costassociation to be determined for a project. In addition, the use of thecolor coded system and symbols enable the user to visually monitor theworker requirements in conjunction with the job.

This module provides an efficient way to track the relationship betweenestimated, scheduled and actual work type cost. The user can monitor thejob by scheduled workers and by actual payroll data. By using WMS, theend user can estimate the cost believed to be associated with aparticular project. The user can then track the actual costs that wereincurred on the job and see whether the job was over or under budget. Ifthe project went over budget, the user can better determine needs forfuture work. If the project was under budget, the user can use theinformation to become more competitive on future work.

Similar to the way Worker History is tracked by payroll and schedulehistory, this module keeps scheduled cost and actual payroll costseparate under Job History as well. Many of the conventional accountingsystems require laborious data sorting, queries and data research toobtain the necessary information to make project management decisions.By relationally linking between scheduling and payroll, the user canview this information easily for better project management. Theinformation is easy to read and can be drilled down for more detail. Theinformation used in schedule history is driven by the worker assignmentsheets, while the payroll history information is driven by the Payrollsheets that are inputted for workers.

Moreover, in the job management module, custom fields in the job filecan be dynamically created. This data is entered only once and istracked and searched. Job files are very fluid; they have differentparameters and specifics that may change daily with new regulations andrequirements. The worker management module enables the user todynamically create new custom field tabs on the fly without having touse complicated setup screens. This enables the user to capture andtrack any information they want from any job source they want withoutbeing limited to predefined fields.

This process provides the user with control over the data they chose totrack and monitor. The ability to add this information dynamicallyprovides the system with much needed flexibility. The user can captureinformation that they think is important to better make their businessdecisions without being restricted by a software application that haslimited fields or missing key links to a formula a user has developedfor managing their business. This enables the user to have one place tokeep and track this information.

The job management module has detailed screens, color-coded information,email alerts and pop up alerts to inform the user of the differentactivities on the job sites. Throughout the cost reporting, schedulingscreens, payroll screens, print screens and so on, the user is informedabout the status of the job cost. The color code method illustrates thedifferent levels of cost and cost comparisons to estimates. Email andpop up alerts inform the user immediately of cost levels that arereached in predefined fields. Users have complete control to edit andchange these parameters at anytime to ensure even greater control of thejob cost.

The job management module in this illustrative, non-limiting embodimentis broken into the following sub-modules, as shown in FIG. 23: 1) add,edit or view a job, 2) job list, 3) job reports, and 4) schedulemanagement. Each of these parts are described in further detail hereinbelow.

1) Add New Job and Edit or View an Existing Job

Whether the user decides to add a new job, edit or just view an existingjob, the information may be presented to the user in the followingformat: in one easy to use screen with a number of tabs, as shown inFIGS. 24A-J. This screen guides the user through the process so theywill be reminded of the job site critical materials. The user can enteror view different job monitoring information, thereby taking fulladvantage of monitoring each job in relation to cost and progress.

To add a job, the system loads in customers stored in the database. Theuser then selects a customer and begins inputting information for thejob. In particular, the information is organized in the followinglogical parts, as shown in FIG. 23: i) job details, ii) contacts iii)job requirements, iv) additional skills and qualifications, v)accounting, vi) job custom information, vii) job history, viii) jobcosts, ix) job tool box and x) job documents. The user may access eachlogical part by simply clicking on the corresponding tab, for example.Each one of these logical parts are described in further detail hereinbelow.

i) Job Details

This logical part provides the general information about the job. Theuser can access this logical part, for example, by simply clicking onthe corresponding tab and a new screen will be displayed showing thegeneral information for this job, as shown in FIG. 24A. The user cansimply view or edit the information or enter a new job. Job details mayinclude the following general information about the job: a customer(which may be defaulted from prior screen selection), name of the job,address (address, city, zip code and state, the state field isespecially critical since a number of work types are bound by statepredefined regulatory requirements), directions and a link to Mapquest,site specific memo (specific site location for meetings), status of job(active, inactive, pending, or any other status type the user defines),number of workers requested, start date, end date, number of workingdays, timezone, start time and end time, lunch time, total standardshift hours and so on.

ii) Contacts

This logical part provides the contact information for the job. The usercan access this logical part, for example, by simply clicking on thecorresponding tab and a new screen will be displayed showing the contactinformation for this job, as shown in FIG. 24B. The user can simply viewor edit the information or enter a new contact. Job contact may includethe following information: contact type (manager, supervisor and so on,a new contact type can be added on the fly), name, phone numbers, fax,email and so on.

iii) Job Requirements

This logical part provides what work type is required for the job. Theuser can access this logical part, for example, by simply clicking onthe corresponding tab and a new screen will be displayed showing the jobrequirements information, as shown in FIG. 24C. The user can simply viewor edit the information or enter a new job requirement. Job requirementsmay include the following information: certified wage project (“Yes” or“No”), types of work grids (lists the predefined work types for thatstate), state initials, number of workers (unless it was already enteredin the job details, then the number of workers will automatically bedisplayed on this screen), shift information, description of work, worktype and so on. The work types chosen link directly to the predefinedlist of workers compensations, payroll tax and miscellaneous burdencosts as well as the required documents and skills for each. Inaddition, the wages and billing rates predetermined for the customer,company or vendors with those work types can be applied here forreporting capabilities.

iv) Additional Skills and Qualifications

This logical part provides what required industry representations andskills are needed for the job. The user can access this logical part,for example, by simply clicking on the corresponding tab and a newscreen will be displayed showing the required industry representationsand skills for this job, as shown in FIG. 24D. The user can simply viewor edit the information or enter a new skill or qualification.Additional skills and qualification may include the followinginformation: required industry representations (required by the industryor the ones required by the company for this work), required skills(required by the industry (non-negotiable) and the ones required by thecompany (possibly negotiable)), level of the required skill (novice,expert, etc), and so on.

v) Accounting

This logical part provides accounting information for the job. The usercan access this logical part, for example, by simply clicking on thecorresponding tab and a new screen will be displayed showing theaccounting information for this job, as shown in FIG. 24E. The user cansimply view or edit the information or enter a new accounting field.Accounting may include the following information: OT Bill Rate (enter byhour), number of workers requested (if this field is already entered inthe previous screens then it is simply shown here, no duplicative dataentry is needed), wage (budgeted pay rate for work type), fringe (budgetfringe or travel for work type), accounting Reference Name/Number,purchase order information (memo field to handle multiple purchaseorder, total project hours (fixed number defined by user to manage job)and so on.

vi) Job Custom Information

This logical part provides custom information for the job. The user canaccess this logical part, for example, by simply clicking on thecorresponding tab and a new screen will be displayed showing the custominformation for this job, as shown in FIG. 24F. The user can simply viewor edit the information or enter a new custom field. Custom informationincludes user defined fields and values. These dynamic custom fields canbe designed by the user to accept plain text, formatted text, numberswith no decimals, numbers with decimals, drop down lists, yes/no valuesand so on.

vii) Job History

This logical part provides history information for the job. The user canaccess this logical part, for example, by simply clicking on thecorresponding tab and a new screen will be displayed showing the historyof this job, as shown in FIG. 24G. The user can simply view or edit theinformation or enter a new job history information. Job historyinformation includes: notes, worker compensation notes, scheduled workerhistory, payroll worker history and so on.

viii) Job Costs

This logical part provides cost information for the job. The user canaccess this logical part, for example, by simply clicking on thecorresponding tab and a new screen will be displayed showing the costsof this job, as shown in FIG. 24H. The user can simply view or edit theinformation or enter a new cost. Job cost information includes: jobscheduled cost, job actual cost and so on. As a result, the actual costof the job can accurately be analyzed and compared.

ix) Job Tool Box

This logical part provides the user with an ability to store jobdocument groups for quick and easy printing, emailing, faxing, saving orinformation exchange, a document group may be called a binder. Anexample of a binder would be a job submittal in the constructionindustry. A job submittal is a group of documents that are required tobe on file in order for a contractor to begin work. The templates forbinders are set up in the Custom Document Group within the systemadministration. However, they can also be created via a pop up withinthis tab. In the job tool box, a user simply selects the binder templatethey wish to use. They then adjust it as necessary, including specificinstances of documents and custom fields and removing others. They canthen print, email, fax, save or information exchange that information.

The user can access this logical part, for example, by simply clickingon the corresponding tab and a new screen will be displayed showing theavailable binders for the job, as shown in FIG. 24I. If a binder hasalready been completed, it may appear with the following information:binder name, an information table (total document count, total pagecount, total field count), option table (with check boxes to includedocument history summary, page summaries, assigned record summaries,created info, updated info, file size), main table (with check boxes toinclude document class, document, type (history document or current),page count), view and information icon, buttons to show history ofcorrespondences regarding the selected binder, to print, to fax, toemail and so on. In addition, this exemplary logical part allows theuser to store other forms of reports, e.g., Air Monitoring samples forthe environmental contractors.

x) Job Documents

This logical part, which can be presented to the user in a screen,accessible via a corresponding tab, for example, allows users to addcustom documents to their job file, as shown in FIG. 24J. A user canalso associate existing documents to that job file, assign custom fieldsto documents and change the order in which those documents appear. Filesof any kind can be uploaded in this logical part, not just images ofdocuments, but MS Office files, PDFs and so on.

The screen for this logical part can appear as follows, e.g., see FIG.24J. On the left hand column of each document type header, a small dropdown menu can be presented. In this drop down menu, the user can selectthe following options: add new document, assign other documents, assigncustom fields, resort documents, and so on. Below each document typeheader, a list of corresponding document classes can be presented.

The list can have several buttons, for example one to print a barcodefor scanning and another to edit the document class. When a documentclass is selected, the following information may appear in the center ofthe screen: title of the document type, document class preceded by abutton to add a new document, image of the first page of the document ifit is an image file, otherwise an icon will appear representing the typeof file, page table with information on each page and an icon to add newpages, document properties table (title, scanned from an original or acopy, initial document or a refresher), date and user who created thedocument, date and user who last updated the document, file count (pagenumber and size), custom field names and values. The user has theability to add additional pages on the fly and resort those pages bydragging and dropping them to the appropriate location. In addition, theuser can upload different file types as the pages; one may be a .Tiff, a.gif, a .jpg, a .bmp, a .xls, .doc, .pdf or various other file types.

In addition to the document information, a table for document historymay be shown with view/edit icon, title of the document, pages, whetherit is the initial or the refresher and so on. Moreover, assigned recordstable including lists for the jobs, customers, workers or other itemswith which the document class is associated, may be presented. One ofordinary skill in the art will understand that other variations arepossible.

2) Job List

This sub-module can be accessed by the user by simply clicking acorresponding button, for example see FIG. 25. The Job list provides amain menu containing the jobs list, as well as filters for customizingthe job lists such as pending jobs or active jobs. From any one of theselists, a user can click on a particular job and drill down into thatparticular job's details.

The individual job list screens may be arranged as follows. The customername is listed, with the ability to click on the customer and produce apop up window of the customer for review, jobs are displayed for theuser giving them access to view any job with a simple click, and severalkey facts are displayed about the job. Drilling down into any jobenables the end user to easily view the status of the job, key laborcost of the job both scheduled and payroll, the number of men scheduledto each job and on what days, with a total man day count used to date.

The dynamic ability to capture work type, schedule information andcalculate it against workers' wage rates enables the user to quickly andeasily make business decisions. In the conventional systems, sameinformation requires users to view several different screens and relatednumerous reports and several different methods of capturing data, suchas information from a random excel sheet file and information from theiraccounting system and then being combined by the user to collect andunderstand the information. Users spend hundreds of hours a yearcreating and recreating these reports. In addition, these reportscapture only the data for those instances, where up to date informationcan be displayed with this illustrative embodiment of the WMS.

By clicking on any job, a user will pull up separate tabs on the samescreen for accessing the logical parts for this job described above (jobdetails, contacts, job requirements, additional skills andqualifications, accounting, job custom information, job history, jobcosts, job tool box and job documents). Job list can be filtered by jobstatus (all, active, inactive or other) or custom filters can be set.

Moreover, the list can display selected items based on user preferences.The user has the option to display the following job information on thatscreen: address, billing hours and type, break hours, budgeted rate,certified, contract number, daily start and end time, notes, site,state, zip code, total shift hours, wage, work description, number ofworkers requested and so on. One of ordinary skill in the art wouldreadily recognize that other variations are possible.

In short, a job list is displayed to the user. The user may click on thejob and will be provided with detailed information for the job organizedin tabs discussed above. To edit the job, the user clicks on the editbutton, and modifies and updates the information as necessary. Then, theuser may simply click on a save button and the system stores changesmade to the record and the job is displayed with the new updatedinformation, e.g., see FIGS. 26 and 27.

As illustrated in FIG. 26, the user enters a job key or job name and thesystem searches for the corresponding job in the database. If the key orname cannot be found, the list of the existing jobs is displayed. On theother hand, if job information is found it is displayed. The user maysimply click on the “edit” button and they will be redirected to editthe information stored for a job. As illustrated in FIG. 27, the usermodifies the stored job record, the information is updated by the systemand then returned back to the system.

3) Job Reports

The Job Reports sub-module allows the user to create Custom Reports tobetter manage their business. The user can then save those reports aspredefined reports to be viewed and edited at a later date. This addedfeature saves time for the user that can be better spent concentratingon their daily business. The job reports are somewhat similar to theworker reports except these reports are specifically generated for thejob.

The user can dynamically generate reports from anywhere within the WMSsystem. By utilizing the report writer, the end user can identify fieldswithin the database and build custom reports to meet their needs. Thereport wizard walks the end user through the process step by stepinsuring the integrity of the data and its relationships fordistribution. In the event the user is unable to build a report, the enduser has the ability to call the WMS document center for support orcontract system partners to develop any type of report information theyneed. The report can then be saved. An example of a saved report couldbe a Worker History Report.

4) Schedule Management

This exemplary, non-limiting WMS Schedule Management sub-module allowsthe user to utilize one screen shot in a web based application to managea worker in relation to his work schedule and the jobs on which he orshe is qualified to work. This simple setup gives the user a one-screenview of their entire staff and resource allocation for the week. Byselecting the worker, the user is given easy access to review theworker's file, edit the job assignment, and reassign a job. Thesemethods and procedures for managing a worker's schedule save hundreds ofkeystrokes, eliminate time delays in jumping between job and workerscreens, and give the user a snap shot of the entire resource allocationfor a week at a time, for example. In addition, the user can view whichusers need to be scheduled for updates and which workers have beenscheduled for updates. This exemplary, non-limiting embodiment of theschedule management includes the following logical parts, see FIG.23: 1) assignment report, 2) schedule by worker, and 3) schedule by job(job assignment). Each of these exemplary, non-limiting logical partsare described in further detail herein below.

i) Assignment Report

Assignment Report logical part provides the user with one easy screen toview the jobs and the assigned workers to each of the jobs. The user canimmediately view the number of workers required, number of workersscheduled and the name of the scheduled workers. For example, once theuser selects assignment report, the system loads the customer, jobs andworkers and displays a complete assignment report illustrated in FIG.28. In particular, FIG. 28 shows assignment report weekly, theassignment report by client, sub-contractor or worker. Other variationsare possible and are within the scope of the invention.

ii) Schedule by Job (Job Assignment)

The schedule by job (Job Assignment) logical part is a method to easilyadd workers to an active job. The Job Assignment enables the busiestuser to easily and quickly add and remove workers from a job. Thecapabilities of having paper work association and job site cost areessential pieces of information for the user to better manage theirtime, productivity, and cost. By utilizing the Job Assignment, the usercan view a list of customers and jobs, work types for that job, acomplete list of workers in the system, along with a filter to narrowthe list in one, easy to read screen. This allows the user to simply andeasily select as many workers as they choose, assign them to a specificwork type or default to general work, while viewing there eligibility towork on the job.

By utilizing Schedule by Job (Job Assignment), the details of assigninga worker to a job can be selected or the user can select the defaults,for example, by just clicking on the workers desired for the job andclicking assign. The list displays the workers' compliance for the joband work type on the job as well as overall company compliance via colorcoded icons that check for document expiration, missing documents,incomplete documents, missing skills and so on.

As illustrated in FIG. 29A, preceding each worker name are two icons.One icon represents the worker's compliance with regard to system widerequirements; the other symbolizes the workers compliance with regard tothe job and work type requirements. To assign workers, the user simplyselects the workers with a checkbox and clicks assign. The workers arenow assigned to the job. As illustrated in FIG. 29A, to schedule theworkers for specific dates, the user utilizes schedule to go or scheduleby worker. After selecting to assign worker, the paper work required forthe job is ready to print, email, fax or burn to CD/DVD. This logicalpiece is especially convenient for the busy end user who thinks they donot have the time to schedule workers to the job. The simple and quickprocess enables quick scheduling, and utilizes the abilities ofJob-To-Go, which gives the user complete management over the documentsrequired for meeting regulatory compliance. These exemplary featuressave time that would otherwise be spent performing a task twice in anyother software system. The workers are assigned, the system knows whowas assigned to the job and manages documents required for the jobs.

Schedule by Job (Job Assignment) allows job assignments to be madewithout the need to actually schedule a worker to a date range on a job.The job assignments can be filtered as follows. The user selects acustomer from a drop down menu, then a job and work type, as illustratedin FIG. 29A.

Workers are listed in alphabetical order and preceded by a color codedicon, such as a hard hat or worker icon, representing their overallstatus and another color coded icon, such as a folder, representingtheir status as it applies to that job and whatever work type isselected. By clicking on the worker's icon or flagging multiple workersand clicking on the “show status button”, details for the particularworker can be viewed. The details of the worker appear in a pop upwindow, informing the user immediately if any documents or skills arenot in compliance for the job, work type and overall company compliance.The user selects one or more workers by, for example, checking the checkboxes next to the workers and clicking on “assign” button. A list ofassigned workers can appear on the right hand side of the screen by worktype as illustrated in FIG. 29A. A filter is provided to show whichworkers have been made inactive on the job assignment. Workers can alsobe removed. In addition, the user can be alerted when he attempts toassign worker which lacks the required qualifications for a certain worktype.

The Schedule By Job (Job Assignment) gives the end user the ability toeasily assign workers to a Job File under the desired work type. Thisform allows the user to see the required work types, the numberrequested for each work type, the amount of workers filled for each worktype and the cost associated with each work type. This information givesthe user the ability to manage cost during scheduling. In theconventional systems, the users are required to run cost reports andanalyze data after the fact, whereas in this illustrative, non-limitingembodiment, the user has real cost each time they schedule one or manyworkers.

For example, if a pool company has a pool cover to pull off a customer'spool and a high level technician is assigned to this job, the system,through smart alerts and the color coding, will notify the user thatthey are sending a $25.00 an hour worker to a job that requires a $10.00an hour laborer. This allows the user to decide whether to move forwardwith their current decision or change the decision. The ability to usescheduling cost control provides the user instant information regardingthe worker who has been assigned to a job.

The daily assignment form gives the user the ability to click on thework type to fill and have a list generated letting them know who isqualified to work on that job based on the requirements of that job. Ifthe user needs more workers the user can simply select see the workers,this allows them to see the active workers, and the user can then selectworkers from their current staff. By creating this list, the user hasthe ability to view the status and any pending issues of a workerwithout leaving the screen. By rolling their mouse pointer over an iconthe user can view what pending issues the worker has in relation to thejob requirements, for example. The user can easily assign workersknowing workers status.

In addition, for the user to have security regarding the placement ofunqualified workers, the user can enable the smart alerts forassignment. With the smart alerts activated, the user can have theability to notify anyone within management that needs to be informedwhen a worker has been assigned to a job without the properrequirements. This notification can require an email with or without awritten response from the user who assigned the worker. For example, ifa worker has been assigned to drive a truck for a large delivery nextweek and the worker's driver's license is going to expire on the comingMonday prior to the delivery, the system would prompt the user lettingthem know they are assigning a worker to a job that requires a currentdriver's license, the user would be required to enter a message to hissuperior informing them of why they assigned the worker knowing thisinformation. As soon as the worker is assigned, the supervisor who wasscheduled to receive notification when this event occurs is immediatelynotified with a smart alert of their choosing.

FIG. 29B illustrates the process of scheduling workers for a job. Firstthe user selects customer and is provided with a list of job for thatcustomer. Next the user selects a job and is provided with work type ortypes required for the selected job. The user then selects work type anda list of workers that may be color coded based on whether they meet therequirements for the job.

In particular, as illustrated in FIG. 29B, the system first checks ifthey comply with company requirements, then if they comply with job andwork type rules. Based on these criteria, the workers are color coded.The system then displays the list of the assigned workers to theselected job and the number of workers required. The user then isprovided with option to assign additional workers and to view the statusof each worker they intent to assign. As illustrated in FIG. 29B, theuser views workers to assign color coded based on whether they satisfythe skills and qualifications required for the company, job, and worktype. The user than may assign the worker to a job. Once the worker isassigned to the job, the user may then select the start and end date forthe worker to perform the job as illustrated in FIG. 29B. In particular,the worker may be scheduled at a particular days during the week, or forx amount of days every other week and so on. Also, the worker may beremoved from the job by simply selecting the corresponding option.

The Schedule by Job gives actual and scheduled cost information by day.Each day an assignment is made the system accurately calculates the costof the schedule and displays it within the job windows for review by theuser. This function further enables the user to know the cost of thelabor associated with the project. Specifically, the scheduling can beperformed as follows. The user can view and manipulate a customer name,job name, status, workers requested to date, balance to fill today,workers scheduled by day of the week, labor cost scheduled, total mandays scheduled to date.

iii) Schedule by Worker

The Schedule by Worker logical part is a dynamic tool, which enables theuser to save hundreds of hours a year that would otherwise be spentfiguring out who can work where. The Schedule by Worker allows the userto see their entire staff for the week, for example, in one snap shot,see FIG. 30A. The Schedule by Worker allows the user to review theworker's work week (in this particular example), identify through acolor coded system the worker's schedule, showing overtime in one color,over booked on a single day by one color, and under booked by anothercolor. The system totals the hours to show the total hours scheduled forthe week. One of ordinary skill in the art understands that othervariations are possible.

Each worker name has a cell underneath each day of the week. The cellhas a total count of hours from the assigned jobs. The user can click onthe calendar that is in each cell and run a search against the jobs inthe system on which the worker is qualified to work. A list is thendisplayed with the number of workers requested for different jobs bywork type; the user can then easily assign the worker to any job theywant and close the window. Upon closing, the screen is refreshed,posting the worker to that job and showing the worker's day as filled.Within the pop up window, the user can assign that worker to a range ofdates and specific jobs.

The user can also select the number in the cell and the jobs that theworker is scheduled to will pop up with an appropriate job informationand schedule. The top of the page has a calendar that allows the user tomove between weeks with ease. The Top of the page also has bars thatallow the calendar to move left to right to see the week from Wed toWed, while recalculating the hours of the time frame shown. Within theweekly form, the user can also request to see the jobs, which overridesthe matching to determine where the worker could be scheduled as anexception to the standard job skills and qualifications. If the workeris placed on that job, a smart alert will be sent. This illustrative,non-limiting embodiment enables the user to easily view their staff,know who is working, assign workers easily to jobs on which they arequalified to work, and as an end result, the jobs are filled withqualified workers.

This solves the current day burden of figuring out who has been fullyscheduled, who is qualified to work on certain projects and whatprojects need to be filled. This logical part allows scheduling inrelation to the workers' availability, qualifications and skills, andthe requirements associated with a job. The capabilities of these manymanagement tools ensure the jobs have the best workers assigned to themand enable the end user to save hundreds of hours that may otherwise bewasted on scheduling and problems with overtime and under scheduling ofworkers. The color coding within the worker weekly schedule easilyidentifies the workers that are scheduled over a predefined daily hoursand workers under the limit. This gives the user a quick reference towhat the current workers' schedule is.

Smart scheduling allows the user to click on a worker who needs to beallocated to a job. The system automatically reviews the active jobs andreviews what jobs need workers according to the number requested. WMSreturns a report to the user that shows the jobs in need of workers andfor which the worker in question is qualified. If the user wants to seemore jobs, the user can change the filter to see the active jobs theworker is qualified for or the active jobs. At that time the user canselect a job and assign the worker to the job and perhaps, reassignanother worker to a different job. Once complete, the user returns tothe schedule form.

This logical part could be very useful to the Temporary StaffingIndustry. A resource manager at a Temp Agency could easily utilize thistool to view their entire staff and easily check on pending jobs thatneed to be filled. Using WMS, the manager could constantly monitor theirworkers, job openings, and job qualifications to ensure that everyonewho needs to be working is working and every open job is filled.

Moreover, a list of scheduled workers can be filtered by which job(s)has(have) been selected. Alternatively, the jobs can be viewed at onetime, with the workers scheduled to those jobs appearing under each jobwith the number of hours they are scheduled for. Workers can bescheduled by viewing the entire workforce and clicking on each cell toschedule a worker to a job on that date. The user can also choose agroup of workers, select jobs they are qualified for and schedule themto a date range on that job.

This exemplary Schedule by Workers logical part includes the followingfilters: calendar for selecting dates, worker status (check box),assignment status (radio button), customer drop down filter (selectcustomers), job drop down filter (select jobs), work type drop downfilter (select type(s) of work). Moreover, buttons for reassigning,rescheduling and removing a worker from the schedule may be provided. Inaddition, the screen for this logical part can list workers by job andwork type and show time scheduled every day of the week, month or year.

In addition, column with a Flag Box for selecting employee, column withan employee number, last name, first name, days in the week and totalmay be provided. Cells for each day of the week containing number ofhours scheduled and calendar pop ups may be provided. By clicking onhours will show the user where a worker is scheduled. Additional buttonssuch as a refresh button, week button, month button, job duration/annualbutton may be provided.

In sum, the system provides the user with filters for selecting acustomer, a job and a work type, as illustrated in FIG. 30A, thereafterwith easy screen for viewing scheduling assignment, modifying them orscheduling a new worker, e.g., FIG. 30B. As illustrated in FIG. 30B,when the user initially loads the schedule by worker screen, all workerseligible for scheduling are loaded with their schedules for the currentweek. The screen offers the user many options for scheduling and viewingthe schedules of their workforce. The user may filter the screen byselecting a specific date range he or she wishes to analyze. The usercan also filter by worker status and assignment status, such as over orunder assigned, which will look for workers with over or under 40 hoursa week. The user can filter for a specific work type on a specific jobwith a specific customer. The user can reschedule workers by selectingthe workers from the filtered schedule and clicking on the reschedulebutton. This will provide the user with a screen where the user canchoose another job to which that worker should be scheduled for aspecific date or date range. To add more workers to a job, the userwould simply filter for the specific job in question and click on theshow available workers button for a specific date range. They could thenselect workers from the returned list and select the date range forwhich they wish to schedule those workers and assign them.

D. Customer Management

The Customer Management module enables the user to capture the importantinformation about a customer contact without having to use a secondarycontact application. Customer Management module captures documents andkey dates, sends email alerts and has date pop-ups when the user logsin. This gives the user the unique ability to manage the documentsinside one system. It also allows the user to access the informationfrom any web browser. The customer management provides a smooth easy touse method for managing new and existing customers, contacts and therelevant information. Customer management module may be split up intotwo sub-modules, see FIG. 31: 1) add new customer and 2) customer list.These exemplary sub-modules are described in further detail hereinbelow.

1) Add a New Customer

The Add a New Customer sub-module captures customer data in one, easy touse form that includes details, documents and customized fields. Forexample, FIG. 32 illustrates an exemplary user interface for adding anew customer. In FIG. 32, the user may input customer group, name,address information, account number, status of the client and notes. Theform allows the user to easily enter fields without the need to sufferfrom time delays of reloading screens. The user may capture documentsfor each customer according to the dynamically generating fields thatallow the user to name documents, enter date references, enter numericalinformation from documents and enter text notes from documents. Thisinformation can then be used for tracking, searching and mathematicalcalculations. The user can also capture key contacts of customers,providing an easy way for the user to find important client contacts inone location.

WMS also allows the user to capture accounting information to set upeasy synchronization between accounting packages such as Quick Books,Mas90 and Great Plains. This interface allows the user to have a singlepoint of data entry. It permits the user to download the files intoexisting accounting systems for record keeping, billing, accountreference numbers, payroll and others which will be linked as needed.

Additionally, the user can define and populate custom fields. Thesefields are dynamically generated for the user to be able to trackinformation about their client and be reminded through pop-ups and emailalerts. They are dynamically generated so any industry user can applythem to their specific needs.

To add a new customer, the user may name or select customer group(general contractors, communications and so on), accounting referencename and number, name of customer, their address, phone, fax, status (alist of possible statuses may be defined by a system administrator),customer notes (dynamically created, the date and user is saved witheach note) and so on. Once a customer is saved, the user can enterfurther detail on the customer in the edit current customer screen. FIG.33 illustrates an exemplary process of adding a new customer to thesystem. In particular, the user enters client name, client informationand submits the information to the system. The system automatically addsthe client to the system's database.

2) Customer List

The customer list sub-module groups customers according to All Customersand a default customer status such as Current Customers. If a userclicks on All Customers, they will see a list of All Customers they haveever worked with as illustrated in FIG. 34. In addition, FIG. 34illustrates the display of customer status for each customer and asimple icon for editing the customer. The customer list is categorizedby customer groups as illustrated in FIG. 34. If the user selectsCurrent Customers, a list of the Current Customers will appear. Once theuser enters either selection, they can drill down into each customer byclicking on the customer name to view, edit or add to the fieldsincluded when the customer was originally added. For simplicity and easeof use, customer data may be grouped into the following logical parts,see FIG. 31: i) customer details, ii) customer contacts, iii) customernotes, iv) custom fields (customer information), v) customer history,and vi) customer documents. Each of these logical parts may be placed onindividual tabs for easy maneuvering, see FIGS. 35A-F. For these logicalparts, changes made to a customer can be saved by simply clicking a savebutton for example, similarly customer information can be reset or acertain edit can be canceled.

In particular, the following items may be listed for each customer:name, contact, phone and detailed information and so on. Moreover, theuser can choose fields to display on this list based on individual userpreferences. FIG. 34 includes a button titled “View Detailed List” whichprovides the user with additional filters by which the user may searchand sort their Customers and includes preferences for viewing additionalinformation on the list. The user can choose to display the followingfields from the customer file on the list: accounting reference, contactname, phone numbers, addresses, fax, notes and so on. To drill down intothe details of an individual customer, the user may simply click on thedesired customer, as it is displayed under All Customers or CurrentCustomers. In this illustrative, non-limiting embodiment, the details ofan individual customer are provided in a screen with a number of tabs,each tab corresponding to the logical part listed above.

i) Customer Details

The customer details logical part displays general information about thecustomer such as name, address, phones, faxes, email address, accountingreference name and number, status, standard industry work referencefield for tracking a customer and so on as illustrated in the exemplaryuser interface in FIG. 35A. This information may be edited on the fly bysimply clicking an edit button, for example.

ii) Customer Contacts

The customer contacts logical part displays information about the peopleto contact for that customer. In particular, information such ascontact's name, job title, company, address, phone number, email, statusof the contact (whether the contact is primary or secondary contact) andso on can be provided, as illustrated in the exemplary user interface inFIG. 35B. Similar to the logical part above, this information may beedited on the fly by simply clicking an edit button, for example.

iii) Customer Notes

This logical part displays the notes or memos about the customer. Forexample, information such as whether the customer likes a particularmanager or has requested that particular equipment be used in performinghis jobs can be entered in the notes field, see FIG. 35C. In addition,the user can add new notes by simply clicking on the edit button, forexample.

iv) Custom Fields or Customer Information

Custom fields or customer information is a completely customizablelogical part. In particular, it allows the user to store custom fieldnames and custom field values. For example, FIG. 35D illustrates addingthe custom field “Sales Representative” as well as an already existingcustom field “account number”. In addition to adding new fields, theuser is able to create new field types as illustrated in FIG. 35D.

v) Customer History

This logical part may provide cost information for the customer. Forexample, instead reviewing and/or billing the customer by jobs, acustomer may be billed in one bill for the jobs performed for thiscustomer. In addition, the user can review the information about thecustomer such as total hours of work provided, wage, travel/fringe,total labor costs, margin and so on. As illustrated in FIG. 35E, theCustomer History logical part provides the user with the ability toevaluate the profitability of the customer. For example, if twocustomers requests workers for certain jobs and the company cannot meetthe demand of both customers, then the company can quickly reviewcustomer information and provide workers for a regular customer asopposed to the one that only provides occasional work.

vi) Customer Documents

In this logical part, the documents can be grouped by group documentsname for customers. A screen illustrated in FIG. 35F shows name ofdocument, date of upload, download, keywords, notes and so on can beprovided for documents related to a customer. The functionality of thislogical part is somewhat similar to job documents and miscellaneousworker documents described above, except that this logical part appliesto customers.

The following document types may be particularly relevant to thecustomer: equipment requirement, sales notes, contact documents and soon. The customer document logical part allows the user to add any typeor format of document and assign it to any selected customer. Thisdynamic method of creating fields on the fly enables the user to captureas much information as required and store it electronically. Thislogical part also allows users to retrieve or review the informationfrom any web browser. WMS system may also provide a 24/7 monitoring anddaily backups to ensure that the documents are secured and restorable.Customer documents logical part enables the user to have their documentsfor a client, a job, or any purpose located in a single place. Documentscan be uploaded through a simple intuitive web based wizard (uploadsystem) or by forwarding documents to WMS's 24 hours Document Center. Bydigitizing documents the user is able to have any documents availablefor each customer at anytime.

The customer document logical part allows the user to list the customersin a drop down tree that will then show a list of the customer'sdocuments on file. The list shows the name of the documents individuallyand by groups of documents, the date entered, a key word field, andstatus of document, giving the user a quick reference and rapid accessto the document they are seeking. With this sub-module, the user willsave time looking for contracts, work orders, etc.

All documents can be attached to invoices/reports to meet customercontractual requirements. Forms can be loaded with digital signaturesfor disbursement with invoices or other correspondence. The documentscan be grouped and dispatched via printing, email or fax. Users can alsocreate customized “Document Groups” by simply checking the flag boxesnext to the documents they wish to include. This would enable the enduser to create customized groups of documents for distribution orreview. The save key allows groups to be created on the fly. The groupcan then be used to print, fax or email groups of documents with onerequest.

The customer documents logical part allows the end user to groupdocuments to be disbursed. This is similar to grouping a work type, inthat it allows the user to predefine groups of documents, and allows theuser to easily dispatch documents without having to set up numerousprint runs. The group documents function allows the user to click on theflag box of documents, creating a filter. Once filtered, a documentrelationship is created and those documents are saved as a group. Theuser will be prompted to name and save the group and a new customdocument report will be created. When that report is referenced, thedocuments in the group will be listed showing what documents are in thegroup.

In sum, the customer information can be viewed by simply clicking on thedesired customer. The client information is loaded from the database andis displayed for the user as illustrated in FIG. 36. When the userwishes to edit this information, the user simply clicks on an editbutton, and is redirected to an edit screen as illustrated in FIG. 36.FIG. 37 illustrates the process for modifying information. The usermodifies the information, clicks submit and the changes are uploadedinto the database. The screen is refreshed reflecting changes made bythe user as illustrated FIG. 37.

E. System Administrator

The System Administrator piece of WMS allows the user to customize thesoftware for their needs. The user begins by completing a Master Form orentering the Administrative Setup function and completing eachrequirement separately. They can then use the Work Type Setup to createdynamic fields for Types of Work to be used throughout the system. Fromthe Administrative Setup menu the user can also adjust the cost details,tweaking features such as Payroll Tax, Accounts, Miscellaneous Burdensand Worker's Compensation. In this illustrative, non-limitingembodiment, the system administrator module is split up into thefollowing sub-modules, see FIG. 38: 1) user accounts management, 2)document/skills setup, 3) administrative setup, 4) accounting setup, 5)security grid, and 6) work type list management. Each of these exemplarysub-modules are described in further detail herein below.

1) User Accounts Management

Account Setup is a simple to use function that enables the user tomanage users and security for WMS. The WMS security is robust andutilizes different technology for securing the software. The AccountSetup screen gives the user a simple interface to setup up the user andadministrative data for their account access. In particular, thisexemplary, non-limiting sub-module is split into three logical parts,FIG. 38: i) user accounts, ii) user account types, and iii) verificationlevels. In the user accounts logical part, as illustrated in FIG. 39A,the administrator or user simply sets up account name, user name, emailaddress, and a password. In the user account types logical part, seeFIG. 39B, the type of user account can be set up. For example, asillustrated in FIG. 39B, the user may set the account type to “admin,”“general,” or “owner”. In particular, the user account types logicalpart may provide a screen with a list of names for the account types(human resources, management, CEO, etc). When the user clicks on a nameof an account type a small window may pop up and the user can edit thefollowing information for this account type: name, description, defaultverification level and so on. The account type will provide a defaultverification level for the accounts of that account type. In addition,the user may add a new account type as illustrated in FIG. 39B. Also,the exemplary screen in FIG. 39B provides the user with a count of thenumber of accounts for each type of account.

In the third logical part, verification levels are set up as illustratedin FIG. 39C. This allows certain users to verify certain documents. Tosetup verification levels, a screen with the list of names for variousverification levels may be provided. By clicking on the name of aparticular verification level, a small window may pop up providing thefollowing information for this particular verification level: name,description, level, check image rights (e.g., a check box), checkexpiration rights (e.g., a check box), verify document rights (a checkbox), access rights (e.g., a drop down menu to set my level only,top-down or all), delete manual notes rights (e.g., a check box), addattachments rights (e.g., a check box), select notes for dispatchrights, and so on. The greater the numeric value of the verificationlevel, the greater the user's rights will be in the system. In addition,the user or administrator can add new verification levels.

2) Document/Skills Setup

The WMS has incorporated the ability to list skills in the worker file,the job file and for a work type. This sub-module allows the user todynamically generate skills to create a limitless list of skills andthen relate these skills with the work type, job and worker. Thereby,the user can match a job directly to a qualified worker. This gives theuser an invaluable resource for matching the job's required skills to aworker. In addition, by attaching skills to workers, the user is able tomonitor what skills each worker has and what skills they need to learn.This can help the user with training programs, increases in wages andnumerous other monitoring capabilities. In particular, this sub-moduleallows for setting up the following items, see FIG. 38: i)document/skill groups, ii) skill types, iii) document types, iv) customdocument types, v) custom type groups, and vi) custom document binders.

For example, for document/skill groups, a dynamic list created by theuser is illustrated in FIG. 40A. The screen with this dynamic listincludes the following information: a retractable filter to view Active,Inactive or All Doc/Skill groups, name of the group and so on. When theadministrator or the user decides to add, view or edit a particulargroup, the following information may be provided for this particulargroup, in a form of a screen: name, description, active/inactive (e.g.,checkbox), list of document types in the group followed by a requiredcheckbox, list of skill types in the group followed by a requiredcheckbox. The user may sort and order the document types by simplydragging document types to their respective position within a pop up ofthe group list. The user or administrator may also add new groups.

Next, to set up skill types, the user is provided with informationrelated to skill types as illustrated in FIG. 40B. The user may viewand/or edit this information or add a new skill type as illustrated inFIGS. 41A-C and as explained in further detail below. In addition, theuser may group skills by user defined categories as well as assign alevel to the skill. For example, the following information can be added,edited or viewed for a particular skill type: name of the skill type,skill description, skill level, status and so on.

Furthermore, the administrator or the user can setup document types asillustrated in FIG. 40C. The user can view, edit or add document typesby simply viewing a list with the document types, their names andstatuses. Moreover, the user can group document types into predefinedcategories by simply dragging and dropping document types into adocument group. Within these groups, documents can be reordered andsorted by a simple drag and drop technique.

To add a new document type, the user simply clicks on the correspondingbutton and a pop up screen is provided allowing the user to enter theinformation for the new document type. Once the desired information isentered, the user simply clicks “add” and the document type is insertedinto the database. The user is then shown the document types includingthe added document type, see FIG. 42A. In order to view a document type,the system loads the document type and displays it to the user. When theuser clicks edit button, they are redirected to an edit screen, see FIG.42B. To edit the document type, the document type information ismodified and the button “Save” is selected. The document type ismodified in the database and the user is redirected to the display ofthe document types, which includes the previously edited document type,see FIG. 42C. The skill types may be added, viewed or edited by theprocess described above for adding, viewing and editing document typesas illustrated in FIGS. 41A-C.

Similarly, the user can create custom document types that can beassociated to any entity within the system including Workers, Jobs,Customers, Contacts, Vendors, Types of Work, Company documents and soon. For example, FIG. 40D illustrates an exemplary user interface foradding custom document types for various entities such as customer, job,employee, contact, company, and so on.

As illustrated in FIG. 40D, the user first selects the drop down to“Create New Custom Doc Type.” The user names the document type, and asthe option provides a description of the type as well. The user can thenselect whether management of that document type requires using andmonitoring an expiration and/or issue date. The user can set the term ofthe document, such as 1 year or 6 months, which will allow the system toautomatically calculate the expiration date based on the issue date orvice versa. The user can then add a new custom field to the documenttype or assign a preexisting custom field. If the document type is nolonger in use it can be marked as inactive, prohibiting it from beingdisplayed throughout the system. The user can select to which modulesthe document type can be associated.

Also, the user can create custom type groups as illustrated in FIG. 40Eor custom document binder templates as illustrated in FIG. 40F, to whichthe document types can be associated and which will allow the user toquickly and easily dispatch and/or print from the modules within theWMS. FIG. 40F illustrates the administrative set up of the customdocument binder templates. First, the user must name the document typeand has the option to give a description. The binder template will beused in the reporting tabs such as the tool box of the job or workermodule. If a binder is active it will appear throughout the applicationas a method to group documents for convenient dispatch. If it isinactive it will not be displayed for use, the user would need toreactivate the binder from the system administration module. As FIG. 40Fillustrates, the user may associate certain document types to the bindertemplate by simply flagging the checkboxes preceding said documenttypes. If the user wished to include any custom fields the documenttypes may have, the user simply checks the flag box following thedocument types. The user can then determine in which modules the binderwill be displayed by selecting from the right hand table includingvarious items managed by the system. To utilize the binder template, theuser would go to the reporting or tool box tab within a job record forexample and select the template to use. That template would save allpre-selected document types into a “binder” which can then be emailed,faxed, printed and so on.

3) Administrative Setup

This sub-module enables the user to have one simple place to manage theworker management system application. Conventional software systemstypically require the user to maneuver throughout the software settingup numerous pieces of information in various places before the system isready for proper use. This sub-module is a one stop place for the userto set up the initial application as well as to make future managementchanges without having to figure out the complexity of the software.

The Administrative setup screen allows the user to customize the dynamicfunctions in the system. Each item will be accompanied by an icon thatwill act as a help feature to assist the user during setup. The screenswithin this sub-module are easy to read and enable the user to set smartalerts and adjust the color coding in the system for each item it isassociated with. The Administrative Setup may be driven by prompts thatcan be turned on or off at the beginning of the setup process, theprompts walk the user through each field for setup.

In addition, upon leaving this sub-module, the WMS displays a list offields that are yet to be setup, suggestions for the set up andsuggestions for fields that could be set up differently. If the userwishes to avoid the hassles of the administration, the user can simplyclick “enter default settings for my industry,” and the WMS systementers the defaults for the industry. Thus, the user can be set up andrunning within minutes. Any of the fields can be adjusted later duringruntime. In addition, the user can default to the industry settings anytime they want, not just during the initial setup.

The system utilizes the common expression of Administrative Setup togive the user one location to manage specific tables and forms that canbe managed by editing, deleting, or adding functions. AdministrativeSetup is a one stop place for administrating the WMS information. TheWMS enables the user to take control over their work force and projects.The setup screens make the process of implementing WMS easy andreliable. Cost detail can be setup for fine points such as Payroll Tax,Accounts, Miscellaneous Burdens and Workman's Compensation. Inparticular, this sub-module is organized in the following logical parts,see FIG. 38: i) job status, ii) type of work (job task), iii) employeestatus, iv) employee title, v) employee languages, vi) informationfields, vii) contact groups, viii) form management, ix) vendor types,and x) tool list. Each of these logical parts may be accessed byselecting the part from the main menu screen of the administrative setupor by clicking on a corresponding tab on top of the screen, for example.Each of these logical parts is described in greater detail below.

i) Job Status

Users today have numerous methods of tracking the status of a Job.Conventional accounting systems have numerous names and functions thatare limited to the different type of predefined Job Status options. Thisexemplary logical part provides the user with an easy way to managetheir job statuses. Job status is a dynamic field thereby the user canmanage the job status as they see fit. The Job Status logical partrecognizes each type of the job status and utilizes the dynamicallygenerated fields to manage each job as the user needs.

In particular, this logical part allows the user to add job statuses asthe user sees fit, for example as illustrated in FIG. 43 by simplyclicking on the “add new job status” button. In addition, descriptionfor the job status can be provided. Detailed information for eachcreated job status can be viewed by simply clicking on the job status orthe provided link, for example FIG. 43 illustrates the link “view”,which provides to user with a link to the detailed information for thejob status. A pop up screen with the job status name and descriptionwill be displayed. The user can also edit the job status, for example asillustrated in FIG. 43 by simply clicking on the corresponding button.Each job status can also be labeled as representing an active job, beingdisplayed by default on all lists or being the selected job status fornew job creation. Once these statuses are created and activated by theuser, they will be dynamically propagated to all screens in the WMS thatdisplay job statuses.

ii) Type of Work (Tasks on a Job Site)

In this exemplary logical part, the user can view/edit and createspecific actions being performed on job sites including the status ofthis type of action or work. As illustrated in FIG. 44, the type of workor job tasks can be filtered to view “active” types of work, “inactive”types of work or “all” existing types of work. FIG. 44 illustratesexemplary “active” types of work along with their status. In FIG. 44,the illustrated job tasks or types of work are “Asbestos Removal,”“Bricklaying,” “General Demolition,” and “Lead Removal.” These typesfacilitate later searches by a user for jobs where this particularaction (job task) was performed. For example, the user may wish to seeall jobs where “Floor Tile Removal” occurred and then view which workerswere scheduled to this job if the need arises for similar work to beperformed again.

iii) Employee Status

Similar to the logical parts above, employee status may be set up, asillustrated in FIG. 45. In particular, the user can create new jobstatuses by simply clicking a corresponding button. In addition, theuser can edit a job status by simply clicking on that job status andedit the information in the pop up screen. Finally, a default can beset, where when employee status is not specified, the default case willapply. This default status is illustrated with an “x” in FIG. 45. Thedynamic statuses created in the system administrator will be treated asother fields throughout the application, appearing as choices anywhere auser may search or filter by employee status. Other variations arepossible and are within the scope of the invention.

iv) Employee Title

This logical part allows the user to manage employee titles. Forexample, a title such as human resources, manager, supervisor,administrator and so on can be added by simply clicking a correspondingbutton, see FIG. 46. In addition, the employee title can be edited by apop up screen, which allows the user to rename the employee title andprovide a description for the title. This logical part keeps track ofthe dates of creation and modifications of the employee title. Thereby,when employee title is modified, the system will automatically changethe employee title where it appears within the system. Other variationsare also possible and are within the scope of the invention.

v) Employee Languages

This logical part allows the user to add new languages. In addition, theuser can edit, delete or simply view the languages in the system.Default language may also be set. The specifics of adding, viewing andediting are described above.

vi) Information Fields

This logical part allows the user to add, edit and view field types. Inparticular, each field type has a data type, to whom they pertain andthe status of the field and whether it is a required field or not asillustrated in FIG. 47. The field types may pertain to a document data,a job, a customer, a company, a vendor and so on. For example, for adriver's license, the data type is plain text, it will pertain to aworker and the status may be active and it may be a required document ornot, depending on the user preference. For example, if the user managesa truck driving company, then a driver's license may be a requireddocument. Other variations are possible and are within the scope of theinvention.

vii) Contact Groups

This logical part allows the user to set up contact groups types. Forexample, FIG. 48 illustrates contact group types: customers, jobs,workers, doctors, training, licensor, project manager, IndustrialHygienist, Lead Man, Supervisors, Building Maintenance and so on. Eachgroup may be active or inaction as illustrated in FIG. 48. In additioneach group type may be edited and new groups may be added. Othervariations are within the scope of the invention.

viii) Form Management

This logical part provides the user with an ability to set forms andform fields. For example, the user accesses the set forms screen bysimply clicking on the forms option in the form management logical part.A list of forms is displayed, including their description and status.FIG. 49A illustrates some exemplary forms, their description, statusesand actions. The user may simply select a form to view the detailedinformation for the form and the form information will be displayed tothe user via a pop up screen as illustrated in FIG. 49A. In addition,the form information may be edited by clicking the corresponding button.Once the form information is modified, the pop up box is closed and thelist of forms screen is refreshed. The user can also add new forms asillustrated in FIG. 49A by selecting a corresponding button. Forexample, the user may wish to add a W4 form, which needs to be filledout for each worker, annually. As illustrated in FIG. 49B, the user maymodify or add form field information. FIG. 49B illustrates exemplaryform field information such as name, description, reference ID, source,source field name and position, input field size and type and dates ofcreation and modification.

The user may also manage form fields as illustrated in FIG. 49B. Afilter for the display of form fields is provided, thereby allowing theuser to select what form field information to view. The form field maybe displayed with a description, a source, a reference number and theforms to which this field applies. Using form fields, the user candesignate the fields required for the W4 form. Forms can be generated asneeded from the Form-to-Go screen within Print-to-Go. Then, once the W4form needs to be filled out, the user will simply select the W4 form andthe current workers or the workers within the previous year and clickgenerate and the W4 will fill up automatically with the required fieldsfor each worker.

ix) Vendor Types

This logical part allows the user to set up vendor types. For example,the user may want to designate a vendor type for equipment delivery,office supplies and so on. Thereby, when the user will be adding vendorsto the system, a type can be designated for each one so that once theuser needs a product or service, the system will automatically selectonly the appropriate vendors that provide the needed product or service.

x) Tool List

This logical part allows the user to set up the information related totools required for various job types such as a hammer, a drill and soon. Once entering this logical part, the user views a list of tools thatcan be filtered by active, inactive or all tools as illustrated in FIG.50A. FIG. 50A illustrates that for each tool, the name of the tool, thelevel of use, the tool cost, the estimated life span and the hourlyreimbursement. When the user clicks on a tool, details for this tool aredisplayed in a pop up screen as illustrated FIG. 50B. Details mayinclude, tool's name, life span and cost, hourly reimbursement, level ofuse (e.g. heavy or light use). The user may create new levels or editany of the information provided in the pop up box. Once the user clickssubmit, the modifications are automatically uploaded into the system andthe list of tools is refreshed reflecting the changes made by the user.

In sum, this sub-module provides the user with an ability to set anumber of types of fields needed. This sub-module is a one stop placefor the user to set up the initial application as well as to make futuremanagement changes without having to figure out the complexity of thesoftware.

4) Accounting Setup

Accounting setup allows the user to set up the financial information.This sub-module is organized into the following logical parts i) payrolltaxes, ii) worker's compensation, iii) miscellaneous burdens, iv)worker's PEO, and v) wage management. Each of these logical parts areexplained in further detail below.

i) Payroll Taxes

The WMS solution allows the user to determine the true cost of theirworkers. Payroll Tax Burden can include a variety of different taxesdepending on the job location. The payroll tax burden is dynamicallygenerated, allowing the user to define as many types per state asneeded. Each payroll tax is multiplied against the workers wage andadded to overhead for the worker, this allows the user to have anaccurate cost relationship between the job and worker cost. The payrolltax gives the user the ability to assign tax by each individual statethat allows them to associate the tax for the state with the work type.This easy to use function allows the user to have a better knowledge ofthe overhead cost for the worker.

The user has the ability to add, edit and deactivate the tax burdens andpayroll tax burden types in the master set up screen. Upon entering thepayroll tax, the user is presented with a list of payroll taxes asillustrated in FIG. 51. FIG. 51 illustrates an exemplary screen forviewing payroll tax types. As illustrated in FIG. 51, the systemdisplays the name, code, jurisdiction and rate for each tax type. Theuser may add new payroll taxes or select an already existing payroll taxto view and/or edit the detailed information for the payroll tax asillustrated in FIG. 51. In addition, detailed information for a selectedtax type may be displayed, edited or added as illustrated in FIG. 51.The process of adding, viewing and editing payroll tax type areillustrated in FIG. 52 and is similar to adding, viewing and editingdescribed above.

ii) Workers Compensation

This logical part tracks workers compensation expenses and detailed workhistory by allowing the user the ability to manage workers compensationcost by work type. This allows individual breakdown of cost by each worktype performed, such as an asbestos pipe and a boiler compared to ademolition type in the state of Maryland compared to Delaware.Conventional accounting practices typically incorporate the workerscompensation code with the payroll entry or within the job, by assigningthe worker to a work type. The WMS system controls the details of thework activity and the cost of insurance associated with that particularactivity. This breakdown gives the user a detailed report that can besupplied to the workers' compensation audit for precise work audits. Theability to provide precise workers' compensation audits with precise jobinformation enables the user to greatly reduce the likelihood ofinsurance companies overcharging for the premium. Furthermore, it givesthe user the ability to assemble documents for audits that typicallytake days to assemble. This allows businesses to gain control of theirworkers compensation cost.

Once the user accesses this logical part, the user can view the workercompensation codes, rates and state as illustrated in FIG. 53. A filtercan be set to view worker compensation rates for a particular state asillustrated in FIG. 53. The user can drill into the detailed informationof the worker's compensation rate by simply clicking on the name of theworker compensation rate. The details can also be edited. New workercompensation rates may be added as illustrated in FIG. 53 and view oredit details for the worker compensation type as illustrated in FIG. 54and described in the previous logical part.

iii) Miscellaneous Burdens

This logical part enables the user to set up miscellaneous burden typesthat give the user the ability to manage the job and task cost directlyrelated to the time associated with the worker assigned. Miscellaneousburdens calculate the workers wage in association with the work type.This gives the user the ability to capture worker cost associated with ajob. The information is captured by a percentage and multiplied by theworker wage to determine the cost. This cost is then added to theoverhead of the worker. The user is able to attach these burdens to worktypes. This provides the user with additional control when managingcosts.

Conventional accounting methods attach burden to an earnings code or toan overall job. While this information is helpful to the user, theability to associate a burden cost directly with a worker and the worktype to which they are assigned is much more accurate. The user has theability to attach or not attach the burden giving them total control.Each miscellaneous burden is dynamically generated providing a number ofabilities to the user to define what ever type of burden they want.Similar to the previous parts, the miscellaneous burden types may beadded, edited or simply viewed as illustrated in FIG. 55.

For example, if history shows a worker will need a new respirator every300 hours, the user can calculate 300 hours into a standard work year of2080 hours. The cost of supplying the respirator can be divided into apercentage cost by the hour. The user can set up a miscellaneousrespirator cost. Therefore, every time a worker is scheduled to a worktype that requires a respirator, the true burden rate of this work isbeing contributed to the overhead. This information would be compared tothe billing rate giving the user the ability to manage the costrelationship with the applicable information, by relationally linkingthe work type and the worker.

Another example would be if a user has deliveries to make that are anunusually long way from the office, they could set a work type thatcaptures an additional wear and tear vehicle cost associated with thework type. When the worker is assigned to the job the additional costwould be built into the over head of the worker making the delivery. Thejob allows any work type to be assigned, but by setting up a work typecalled drivers for 50 to 75 miles, the user has the ability to associatea worker directly to the work type and through the use of miscellaneousburdens associate the cost with that work type. This enables the user toattach cost in a direct method to a task for their staff, thus knowingthe real cost associated with performing the task. The miscellaneousburdens are presented to the user just like the previously describedlogical parts, allowing the user to add new burdens, view and editdetails for a selected burden, see FIG. 55.

iv) Workers PEO

The exemplary Workers PEO (Professional Employer Organization) logicalpart allows the user to choose a different company database in adesignated third party accounting application to which to sync payroll.For example, if an accountant is using WMS to perform the payrollfunction for workers belonging to multiple clients, for example, CompanyA and Company B, the accountant can choose which company each workerbelongs to using this function. The choice is linked directly to theaccounting application used by these companies. For example, if they useQuickbooks, when the accountant is syncing the payroll information fromWMS to Quickbooks, the paychecks for workers belonging to Company Awould be pulled from Company A accounts in Company A's database whileworkers from Company B would be paid from Company B's accounts and thoserecords would be synced with Company B's Quickbooks' database.

v) Wage Management

This logical part provides the user with control over pricings andwages. In particular, the user can set up company pricings for variousstates and various work types. This exemplary logical part allows acompany to establish default prices to assign to workforce servicesprovided to customers. An exemplary user interface, which displaysvarious work types for various states, is illustrated in FIG. 56A.

The first column illustrated in FIG. 56A displays the state in which thewage is used. The second column illustrated in FIG. 56A lists the worktypes available for that state. The third column illustrated in FIG. 56Alists the total wages used for each work type. The forth columnillustrated in FIG. 56A includes the Wage Over time rate, and the fifthcolumn includes the total fringe which may include such items as travelexpenses. Moreover, the sixth column illustrated in FIG. 56A includesthe overtime rate on the fringe expense and the seventh column includesa total of all regular expenses associated with wages. The eighth columnillustrated in FIG. 56A includes all overtime expenses associated withthe wages and the ninth column may include the total of both overtimeand regular wage expenses. The tenth column illustrated in FIG. 56Aincludes the percentage markup being added to bill a customer for thisparticular type of labor and the eleventh column includes the dollarvalue mark up used to bill a customer for this type of labor, or worktype. The twelfth column illustrated in FIG. 56A displays the grossmargin percentage earned on this work type, and the thirteenth columnprovides the gross profit dollar amount earned on this work type.Finally, the fourteenth column as illustrated in FIG. 56A includes therate at which the regular labor of this work type is billed to acustomer, and the final column includes the rate at which overtime laborhours of this work type are billed to a customer.

This information provides the user with the ability to evaluate pricingof a certain work type in a certain state. The user can add new companypricings, view and edit details for a particular data entry, just likein the logical parts described above. Next, the user can view and set upcustomer prices as illustrated in FIG. 56B. Unlike company pricing,customer pricing would be specific for one or more selected customers.For example, the user may set up a specific wage with a type of wage(regular, certified, union. etc), pay group details and memos. Inaddition, the user can add or select document types to be associatedwith this wage. Moreover, the user can add new wage information or editexisting wage information by filling out the necessary fields,illustrated in FIG. 56C. This logical part allows the user to determinethe pricing of particular work type services and associate the pricingto the work type. Next, similar to customer pricing, vendor pricing maybe set up; this logical part allows the user to create billing rates tobill customers for services that a vendor may provide the user that theythen provide to their clients

In addition, wage determination library is provided to facilitate thesetup of wages as illustrated in FIG. 56D. The user may set up wages andfringe rates for pay groups that can later be associated to work typesduring the wage determination process as illustrated in FIG. 56E. Forexample, for an asbestos work type, the user may set up a wage of$20.00. This logical provides the user with an ability to manage thecosts associated with a job. In addition, to facilitate setting upwages, a determination library is provided with average wages indifferent states for certain work types.

5) Security Grid

This sub-module allows the user to set permission for various employeeswithin the company, FIG. 38. In particular, certain people can beallowed to view, modify and add information in various parts within thesystem. The permissions are set for the following pieces: documents asillustrated in FIG. 57A, schedule as illustrated in FIG. 57B, workers asillustrated in FIG. 57C, time sheet as illustrated in FIG. 57D, jobs asillustrated in FIG. 57E, print-to-go as illustrated in FIG. 57F,customers as illustrated in FIG. 57G, system administration asillustrated in FIG. 57H, contacts list as illustrated in FIG. 57I,company setup as illustrated in FIG. 57J and vendors as illustrated inFIG. 57K. Permissions can be set for various user types. Othervariations are possible and are within the scope of this invention.

6) Work Type List Setup

This exemplary sub-module provides the user with an ability to add, viewor edit work types, FIG. 58. In addition, in setting up a work type, theuser relationally links other important information to the work type.For example, the user may specify type of tools required for that worktype. Also, job cost (including payroll tax, worker compensation andmiscellaneous burdens) may be specified. Similarly, the user specifiesdocuments required for that work type, including documents required bythe industry, company, trade, etc. The user can also set type of skillsrequired for this work type. The skills are organized by groups such asindustry required skills, company required skills and so on. FIG. 59illustrates exemplary display of information for work type. Thissub-module allows the user to set up the information that is requiredfor the work type. Thereby, if a worker is set to a particular worktype, the system will analyze the worker's record and alert the user tothe missing or expired worker documents or other deficiencies for thiswork type. The system can easily and automatically evaluate which workermay perform the work of a particular work type.

The User may add, view or edit information for the work type asillustrated in FIG. 59 A-C, respectively. The user may view the detailedinformation for the work type as illustrated in FIG. 596. The userclicks on the desired work type and it is loaded and work typeinformation is then displayed as illustrated in FIG. 59B. In addition,the work type can be modified by simply clicking on the work type to beedited and submitting changes such as work type information in a pop upscreen as illustrated in FIG. 59C. The user then clicks submit “addtype” and the changes are then saved to the system's database asillustrated in FIG. 59C. The view screen is then displayed with theedited work type.

FIG. 59A illustrates the process for adding a new work type. Asillustrated in FIG. 59A, the worker information is entered by the userand the user submits (clicks add type) the entered information and thework type with its information is inserted into the system and thescreen is reloaded. Other variations are possible and are within thescope of the invention.

This exemplary feature provides the user with an ability of bringingtogether the key aspects of different work types by associating jobrequirements and worker skills needed to perform the job. The user cancreate a limitless list of requirements and skills that meet theirindustry needs. By combining these skills in a “Work Type” they create aprofile of the worker needed to perform those tasks.

In addition to managing which workers are qualified to work under aparticular work type, the user has the ability to track actual cost bypredefining the cost associated to the Work Type. The user can attachWorkers Compensation, Payroll Taxes, and Miscellaneous Burdens as theyapply to each work type and each state. This gives the user the ultimateability of knowing the real cost associated with any job.

When a worker is assigned to a “Work Type”, the system checks theworkers qualifications and skills on file and compares to thequalification and skills required for this work type, then the systemvisually display, through color-coding, if the worker meets the skillsand qualifications of that Work Type. In addition to the color-coding, asymbol is displayed showing the worker valid or invalid. Also, the colorcoding displays if any of the qualifications for the job or the companyare going to expire within 30 days.

During set up, the user defines different types of works needed toperform their job. The billing rate and budgeted worker wage informationis collected. This information is reviewed each time a worker isassigned to the Work Type and displays a real cost to the user. The userhas the ability to immediately analyze the relationship of the workerand the schedule with costs prior to the event occurring. This gives theuser control over their labor cost and early warning signs of any costoverrun.

By using the association of “Work Type” to a Job Requirement, the userknows the workers who have the ability to complete a certain job and theuser has the tools to track and monitor the cost of that job. Thecriteria that defines Work Type is not predefined. Work type is adynamically generated field. This allows the user to create new “WorkTypes” and dynamically generate the necessary requirements associatedwith them. This provides the user limitless possibilities for trackingjob requirements and skills related to their work force.

This feature also allows the user to use skills and qualifications asrequirements to pre-define any type of “Work type” they want to createto manage their business. The user may simply apply skill orqualification requirements or combinations of skills and qualificationsto a “Work type”. Once that work type is assigned to the worker, thesystem monitors and tracks the worker throughout the system for theirvalidation and status of that specific work type description. This isdone through color-coding and symbols. Thus monitoring the work force iseasy and intuitive.

For example, a company policy may require a copy of the worker'sdriver's license to be kept on file. The exemplary WMS does notspecifically list a driver's license, but the user can “add a new worktype” and set out the new criteria for the driver's license. In short,the work type logical part is very flexible providing the system withthe ability to adjust to the needs of a particular industry or fieldquickly and easily.

To sum up, with this exemplary Administrative module, the user has anability to set up almost any field and field type, the user views asimportant in managing the business. In addition, this system providesthe user with flexibility to name fields with words, the user is mostlikely to remember. The user can set up default fields and addadditional fields or field types for any type of data, at any time andnot just during the initial setup. Finally, the user can also rename alldynamic fields within the system and all main modules. For example, theuser may wish to name “workers” “employees” or “students” and in sodoing all fields including that terms will be renamed such as “workerstatus” to “employee status” or “student status.” The job or customerfields may be renamed project and client fields for example and so on.

F. Accounting Management—Time Sheet

The WMS provides not only exception front office management capabilitiesbut it also provides a wide range of back office capabilities such asBilling and Payroll Management. This module is broken into the followingsub-modules, see FIG. 60: 1) Payroll Management, 2) Billing Managementand 3) Custom Reports.

1) Payroll Management

This sub-module facilitates the payroll entry process by utilizingmethods and procedures that save the user hundreds of key strokes duringtime entry. For example, Paychex, a conventional payroll system,requires the user to make about 227 key strokes to enter payroll data,to enter the same data with the WMS solution the key strokes needed areas little as about five. Conventional accounting systems require theuser to enter data from data entry sheets that accept the informationone worker at a time. Other conventional systems create spread sheets toallow the user to enter data. These conventional systems fail to utilizethe dynamic features and methods that are provided in this sub-module.This sub-module can be used as an overlay to any accounting systemdirectly or be used to capture information and download it to anyaccounting system or payroll service through a custom link.

Therefore, the user only has to enter data one time. By utilizing thissub-module, the user can refine their payroll entry system to only a fewkey strokes. If the user chooses to use the payroll sub-module only, acustom link is created to embed the payroll sub-module within theaccounting system thus enabling the information to be drawn in the sameformat that it is drawn from this worker management system. The methodsand procedures of this module enable the simple and rapid entry of timesheets. Many users struggle with time sheet entry. The conventionalprocesses of entering time sheet information are slow and tedious andthe conventional methods practiced lead to data entry mistakes thatcould be avoided.

This sub-module provides one main screen for payroll entry with severalkey pop up menus. The time sheet is automatically populated with keydata the system already knows. The user goes directly to a singlescreen, selects a customer, and then selects a job. This sub-module thendraws the default information from the information already containedwithin the other modules of the system. This enables the user to keyspecific time directly to the workers on the job. The user has theability to easily select and use scheduled data or default setting,which can be set to the user preference. For example, the defaultsetting could be set to 8 hours and the standard work days would defaultto eight hours. The recommended practices is to set the default to zero,this ensures no hours are predefined. If the user selects populatefields from a schedule, the system populates the date from the scheduleinformation. The user is then able to edit the fields for each worker asnecessary. The information that is presented is only default informationthat can easily be edited or deleted.

Another example of this is the worker pay rate. The worker pay rate isdrawn from the worker file. If the job is a Davis Bacon job/CertifiedWage project, the system automatically has that information based on thejob criteria originally entered, and defaults to the worker's wage orDavis Bacon wage, whichever is higher. The user could then type over thewage and put in any wage they wanted. This wage would be used for thistime sheet only. The ability to default to information that has alreadybeen entered into the system and overwrite the known information withoutwriting back to the job file or worker file is an efficient method ofmanaging payroll. It enables rapid time entry and easy and quickadjustments.

The user also has the ability to correct or update the job and theworker file by simply clicking on a button and a window for the job orthe worker pops up. The edit is made and the user is able to keepworking without ever leaving their place in the application. The userhas the ability to hit a refresh button on the time sheet entry screenwhich would go out and get the most recent data. If the user does nothit the refresh screen, the edit they made to the file would not beactivated until the next use of the time sheet. In the conventionalsystems, users are forced to keep running list of items to update dataentry for the next payroll or they enter them and it over writes theinformation for this week. An example of this would be a workerreceiving a pay increase. The accountant may be notified of a wage rateraise but the user is still working on the last week's payroll. Ratherthan wait to make the update, they could make the update straight fromthe time sheet, as the event arose and it would not affect the past orcurrent pay period time entry. This is true for the payroll and jobfields that populate the time sheet.

The ability to have the necessary information populate as a default andthen to be able to adjust, move, and correct that information allows theuser to easily navigate the time entry. Since the information isautomatically entered by default, the user does not have to remembernumerous codes and payroll information. Furthermore, the user can easilyview a worker or a job at anytime without losing their place by simplyclicking on the job number or worker name, a new window appears, theview or edit is done and the window is closed returning the user totheir original place.

This sub-module also enables the user to add workers to the time sheetsand create new time sheets for jobs on the fly. This is done through adynamic pop up windows that give the user the ultimate flexibility toadd a worker to the time sheet, and if necessary, add a job time sheetto the customer for that job. Most accounting systems available todayrequire the user to leave the system to setup a new job or create a newpayroll time sheet. The WMS methods and procedures allow the user to dothis in easy steps without leaving the current place of work. Thissub-module does the work through business logic. This enables the userto rapidly add unexpected jobs that need time data entry.

For example, when a contractor worked on a job for 2 hours on a Fridayafternoon because they finished another job early and the office wasunaware of it until the time sheet came in, the user would typicallyhave to set the job and time sheet information up in another place inthe system. Therefore, when the user was entering time and this timesheet appeared, they would have to stop where they were in the timesheet entry, leave the screen, enter the job to the customer, assign theworker to the job and then enter the time, assuming the job cost and payrate cost was in the system, this process takes time and numerous keystrokes.

This sub-module is consistent with solving this problem by allowing theuser to simply click one button called add a worker/job. A pop up windowis presented that has the workers for the company available and thecurrent job, and the customer are displayed. From this one screen, theuser could select a new customer and the jobs for the customer would bedisplayed, the user would select the job and the workers that were onthe job and the new time sheet would be created. If the user selected,for example, a radio button that said “use current workers selected”,the system would know from the current work sheet what workers wereselected and would populate the workers for that time sheet. Thereby theinformation in the system is entered only and then is relationallylinked to other modules. This enables the user to go right back toentering time. The WMS solution not only saves time by only enteringinformation once but also by not requiring the user to move betweenscreens and various modules within the system, thereby loosing theircurrent place of work.

This sub-module may save the user many hours a year in payroll entry. Inaddition, with default values that can be over written and the payrollentry mistakes should drop. This sub-module is split up into thefollowing logical parts i) weekly time reports and ii) payroll exports,see FIG. 60.

i) Weekly Time Reports

The Weekly Time Report logical part is a functional screen allowing theuser to enter weekly time for the workers assigned to a selected job forthe selected week. By default the previous week is selected, but theuser can select any week from the displayed calendar as illustrated inFIG. 61. In addition, the week comes up in the form the customer uses,be it from Monday to Monday or Wednesday to Wednesday. The user selectsa customer, which refreshes the screen with a list of the jobs that hadworkers assigned that week. The user then selects a job, which refreshesthe screen with a single spreadsheet containing a list of workersassigned to the job. The spreadsheet is then ready for time entry. Foreach worker on the job the following information is easily entered bytabbing or using the arrow keys to move through each field: total hoursworked on this job for each day. In addition, for each worker on the jobthe following information is calculated automatically as time isentered: the first forty hours will appear in the regular hours column,any hours over forty will appear in the overtime (OT) hours column asillustrated in FIG. 61. This logical part will easily calculate ifovertime was worked on two separate jobs.

For each worker on the job the following information is pulled from oneof two places either the job detail information or the individualworker's detail information, whether the job is non-certified, regulartravel/fringe rate and so on. Of course, the user could override thepreviously entered information. Overtime Travel/Fringe Rate iscalculated automatically at time and a half of the Regular Travel/FringeRate. Regular Wage Rate is pulled from the worker's individual detailfile, but can also be overridden as time is being entered. Overtime WageRate is calculated automatically at time and a half of the Regular WageRate. Regular Billing Rate is pulled from the job detail file or, if theworker has a greater billing rate than the job, it will be pulled fromthe worker's individual detail file. The Regular Billing Rate can alsobe overridden as time is being entered. Overtime Billing Rate is pulledfrom the job detail file or, if the worker has a greater billing ratethan the job, it will be pulled from the worker's individual detailfile.

For each worker on the job the following information is calculatedautomatically: as time is entered total wage is calculated based on thenumber of regular hours times the regular wage rate plus the number ofovertime hours times the overtime wage rate. Total travel/fringe iscalculated based on the number of regular hours times the regulartravel/fringe rate plus the number of overtime hours times the overtimetravel/fringe rate. Total Bill is calculated based on the number ofregular hours times the regular billing rate plus the number of overtimehours times the overtime bill rate. These amounts are recalculatedautomatically as any number in the worker row is changed. Clicking SaveChanges updates the weekly time report row records in the database. Foreach worker row, the job number is displayed. For each worker row, acheckbox is displayed allowing one or more workers to be selected forfunctions such as: reassigning selected workers, assigning worker to anadditional job, deleting selected workers and adding a worker or a jobto the time report.

For example, when reassigning selected workers is selected, a list ofthe jobs will appear. The user simply selects a job and presses thereassign button. The screen will refresh and the workers that werereassigned will no longer appear on the current job. When assign toadditional job is selected, a list of jobs will appear. The user simplyselects a job and presses assign. This allows workers to be assigned tomore than one job as their schedule permits. If a crew works on one jobstarting Monday, and was moved to another job late in the week, but wasnot assigned to the new job in the WMS, the current client would appear.The worker will still be assigned to the original job as well. Whendeleting selected workers is selected, the screen will refresh and theworkers that were deleted will no longer appear on the current job. Whenadding a worker/job to the time report is selected, a list of workers inthe system's database will appear. The user can then access andmanipulate various worker and job data. It is possible to assign onlyone worker or multiple workers to the current job. For each worker, if aworker's documents are Expired or Incomplete, the name is shown in boldred, for example. If a document is pending, the name is shown in boldblue. If the worker is assigned to more than one job that week (and thusat risk for uncalculated overtime on one or more jobs), a redexclamation point is displayed after the worker's name. This is providedby way of an example only and other variations are within the scope ofthe invention.

In order to increase the speed of entry the totals row at the bottom ofthe Weekly Time Report is left blank until an Update Button is selected,for example. Otherwise, the worksheet would be continuously updatedwhich takes time especially on a large job. After the Update Button isselected, the user will be able to view the totals for each column inthe worksheet. These numbers can be used for reconciliation andverification purposes.

The Weekly Time Report also allows every worker's individual data fileto be accessed by clicking on the worker's name. This can be used forupdating worker information on the fly. Other features that may beincluded are automatically opening the worker in a separate window. Theuser then will also be able to assign workers to a job through theweekly time report to a job if the client has no other jobs with workersassigned.

Payroll Exports Service Provider

This logical part allows the user to export their timesheet informationto a predefined link, which would typically be assigned to an outsidesoftware package or service provider such as Payroll, ADP, Paycheck,Timberline, Great Plains or Quick Books. The specifics for the exportfunction, such as which outside software or vendor and which fields tolink are predetermined during the setup.

Workers on Site/Secure Site

As security becomes a greater concern at places of business, airportsand government facilities worldwide, a need for more accurateverification of identity and tracking of an individuals' whereabouts hasbecome necessary. WMS has created a secure site system tied directly tothe job management, compliance and time sheet capabilities of theapplication. Secure site utilizes WAP capabilities, magnetic stripetechnology and biometric fingerprint scanning.

The user may begin by simply linking a worker profile to a swipe cardcontaining a magnetic stripe or to a fingerprint. This is done via amagnetic stripe reader or a fingerprint scanning device and an easy touse screen listing the workers in the designated database. WMS can thentrack these workers as they enter and exit job sites. The application isloaded at a job site either on a WAP enabled mobile device or anycomputer. If the application is loaded on a device connected to theinternet or on a WAP enabled device, when the workers swipe their cards,scan their fingerprints or are logged in via the WAP enabled device,their time of arrival is automatically logged into the time sheets. Thelogout process works the same way. In addition, upon swiping their IDcard or scanning their fingerprints, the worker's profile is displayed,allowing the supervisor to see whether or not the worker is incompliance for that job. If a required document or certification hasexpired or is missing, the supervisor can have the worker re-swipe theircard or rescan their fingerprint to show that the worker attempted tocome to work but was not qualified for the job in question. The systemmay also block the worker from logging into the system if a requiredindustry representation is missing or expired. Alternatively, the systemmay send an alert to the site supervisor informing them that anunqualified worker is working on the site. On of ordinary skill in theart will recognize that other variations are within the scope of theinvention.

2) Billing Management

The billing management capabilities include the ability to manageinvoices through the invoice expert and print time reports of thisexemplary embodiment. This sub-module includes the following logicalparts, see FIG. 60: i) printable time reports and ii) invoice export.The Printable Time Report logical part is a report displaying the timereport row data for the selected job for the week selected. FIG. 62illustrates that upon selecting a customer and a job for the customer,an exemplary printable time report is displayed. In FIG. 62, workersassigned to the job are shown along with number of hours they worked andthe totals for the job are provided. In addition, FIG. 62 illustrates acalendar for selecting the week for the report. This report can beprinted for a variety of purposes such as record keeping and clientinvoicing. Certain columns/data can be hidden depending on the reportingneeded.

By default the previous week is selected, but the user can select anyweek from the displayed calendar illustrated in FIG. 62. The userselects a client, which refreshes the screen with a list of the jobsthat had time entered that week. The user then selects a job, whichrefreshes the screen with a single spreadsheet containing a list of theworkers who had time entered to that job. The user can then click on thedesignated links (e.g., prev, next links) to quickly jump from job tojob for the selected client or can change the report view by clicking onthe Time View, Bill View or Sign View.

The time view logical part provides the user with a screen that breaksdown the hours by day and total for the time period of each workerassigned to a specific job. It breaks down the hours by regular,overtime and total hours. It includes travel or fringe rates and anyovertime paid on those items as well as the billing rates for allmentioned items. The bill view can be used to support invoices mailed toclients. It breaks down the hours by worker by day worked on a projectfor a client and includes only billing information without any costinformation. The sign view logical part can be used when a worker picksup a check or confirms the hours or amount paid to them by the employer.It may provide such information as hours and all wage rates as well as aspace for the worker to provide their signature.

The user can also download a file (e.g., a PDF file) containing theliability releases for the workers on a particular job. The user willalso be able to print any document from this page. The user can alsodownload a PDF to Acrobat that contains the three views and releases ina single file for easy printing. The user will be able to define whichdocument he or she wishes to add to the PDF file. The invoice exportlogical part works similarly to the payroll export. The invoiceinformation is simply exported to an outside software package or serviceprovider.

3) Custom Reports

The custom reports sub-module allows the user to dynamically generatereports. By utilizing the report writer the user can identify fieldswithin the database and build custom reports to meet their needs. Thereport wizard walks the user through the process step by step insuringthe integrity of the data and its relationships for distribution. In theevent the user is unable to build a report, the user has the ability tocall the WMS document center for support or contract the system'spartners to develop any type of report information they need. Thissub-module may include the following exemplary reports: i) weekly totaloverview, ii) weekly total details, iii) weekly schedule/payrollcompensation, iv) weekly payroll/overtime compensation, v) employeesweekly totals overview, and vi) workers compensation reports.

G. Print-To-Go

Print-to-Go module provides documents on demand for users who needdocuments rapidly and frequently. Today many people still pull documentsfrom file cabinets and run them through copiers each time a copy isneeded. This module eliminates the need to ever copy a document morethan one time. The Print-To-Go module allows the user to manage anddistribute documents by printing, emailing, faxing or saving them to adisk. This module enables the user to print directly from employeefiles, worker file-to-go or from a predefined job, job file-to-go orgenerates selected forms for selected workers, form-to-go. The threesub-modules are 1) worker-file-to-go, 2) job-to-go, and 3) form-to-go,see FIG. 63.

1) Worker File-to-go

Worker File-To-Go enables the user to click on one or more workers,select desired documents for the workers and select a method to dispatchthe documents as illustrated in FIG. 64. For example, if fax-to-go isselected, the user is queued to enter the fax number. If email isselected, the user is queued for email address. Then the documents aredispatched. Once dispatched the user has the ability to make anotherselection or leave the screen. Alternatively, the user can save thedocument as a PDF onto a CD/DVD, a floppy or some other type of memory.If a document was checked and there was no document on file for theworker, a page will print with the workers name, the name of thedocument and a message that the document is not on file.

In addition, preceding each worker name is a color coded icon or someother symbol, alerting the user if the worker is out of compliance withcompany requirements. To view what problems may be present in theworker's file the user may use some sort of navigation method, such asclicking their mouse on the icon or rolling over the icon, at whichpoint a pop up will detail the documents, skills or other fields needingattention. To view or print the problems that may exist with one or moreworker files the user may flag the check box preceding the worker iconand click on the show status button, at which point a large pop upwindow will appear detailing all the problems that may be related tothose workers.

2) Job File-to-go

Job File-To-Go sub-module dispatches documents in the same way as WorkerFile-to-Go sub-module. The difference is when Job File-To-Go isselected, a number of filters are provided. The user may select acustomer and then jobs for the selected customer. In addition, the usercan select a work type and the source of workers (e.g., from theassigned workers, scheduled workers or payroll). Upon such selection,the workers for that selection are displayed as illustrated in FIG. 65.The user can then select send all the documents, only documents thathave not yet been distributed, current documents, required documents forthe job and so on, e.g., as illustrated in FIG. 65. The documents areautomatically pre-selected. The user can edit the workers and thedocuments to disburse with easy to use check boxes. Upon final review,the entire job file is ready for dispatch. Once dispatched the user hasthe ability to select another customer and job or leave the screen.

In addition, the Job-To-Go screen, similar to the Worker-To-Go screenalso provides color coded icons or other symbols representing thecompany, job and work type requirements with respect to each worker'scompliance. To view the problems with a worker, the user may use somesort of navigation technique such as rolling their mouse over the iconor clicking on it to view a pop up of the problems with that worker. Toview and print one or more workers at a time, the user may flag thecheck boxes preceding the icons next to the workers for which they needmore information and click on the show status button. A pop up willappear informing the user of all problems with the workers in question.

Print-To-Go offers the user a wide range of preference regarding how theselected information will be delivered. For example the user can chooseto include a cover page between each worker file displaying a picture ofthe worker and a list of documents that were printed with the data entryinformation listed. For example, the workers physical would list,physical and date of expiration. The user can also choose to print theword “expired” on any document that has expired. If the document hadbeen verified by the user, the name of the user, the date verified andthe name information of the verifying party would be printed on thedocument at the bottom of the page. The functions to print expiration,verification, cover page, and picture on the cover page are thefunctions that the user can turn on or off in the print to gopreferences or administrative section. This gives the user flexibilityover the type of information to dispatch.

3) Forms-to-go

Forms-To-Go sub-module generates forms and populates them with data fromthe system. The user may select a customer, a company or a job, and thenthe forms to generate as illustrated in FIG. 66. For example, the userselects the workers and the forms to fill and then to download PDF andthe forms are automatically populated with data and are displayed foruser review in a PDF format. In addition, the populated forms can besaved back to the record for which they were completed to be used at alater date.

H. Information Exchange

Information Exchange (hereinafter “IE”) has empowered the community toeliminate the need for duplicate entry. Community is one or many usersthat share a common relationship. For example, a contractor and a subcontractor. Once information has been captured electronically by onesingle user, other members of the user's community will not need tore-key that data. IE allows for the dispatch of data related to elementsin the originating database to elements in the recipient database. Thedynamic nature of the WMS calls for the customizable routing of incomingdata and the possibility of creating custom fields to accept that dataon the fly. IE makes the process of transferring data between anindustry community more efficient and accurate. Data is easilydistributed and validated without sacrificing data security orintegrity. IE, just like the previous logical parts, eliminatesduplicate entry and at the same time validates Information andSupporting Documentation (hereinafter “ISD”), and manages ISD with SmartManagement tools such as smart alerts and color coding within acommunity of users. ISD are images, data files, documents, industryrepresentations, forms or any type of information.

IE is a work flow process that enables a user and a community of usersin a one to one or one to many relationship to exchange information witheach other seamlessly while enabling each user the ability to choose theinformation they want to distribute, just as if they were submitting theinformation by paper, email attachments, web page portal or any othermeans, as illustrated in FIG. 67. In addition, IE is consistent witheliminating the need for the recipient to manually extract data fromthese sources in order to enter the data into the recipient's database,IE does it automatically. The user can dispatch ISO to one or more userselectronically, enabling the recipients to receive the information, viewthe information, accept all or part of the information and save the ISDinto their database directly. Each user has control over theirindividual database. When information is received they can choose toaccept or reject the data and can even create new fields to accept newtypes of information. The user has control over what information is sentto other users from a source database and what information is acceptedinto the recipient's database.

FIG. 67 illustrates a sender selecting information to distribute to oneor more recipients. In particular, the sender may select any number offields and documents to transmit to the recipient. Each selected fieldor document is provided with a flag box so that the sender may deselectthe field or document and so that the recipient may easily map by fieldsor any number of fields. As illustrated in FIG. 67, once the senderselects information and documents that are to be dispatched, a summaryreport is compiled for the user to review. The summary report has thetotal number of documents and the total number of fields beingdispatched. In addition, the summary report may provide the total numberof workers for whom the information is dispatched, or the total numberof jobs, and so on. In addition, the sender may edit the information fordispatch using flag boxes. As illustrated in FIG. 67, when the senderreviews the information, the sender then specifies one or morerecipients. Of course, the recipient or recipients may be specifiedbefore the selection of information or before the review. Theinformation is then dispatched to the designated recipient or recipientsas shown in FIG. 67. The information may be sent using the Simple ObjectAccess Protocol (SOAP).

SOAP allows a program in one kind of operating system to communicatewith a program in the same or another kind of operating system using theWorld Wide Web's Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) and its extensiblemarkup language (XML) as a mechanism to exchange information. One ofordinary skill in that art is well aware of the SOAP and furtherdescription of the actual transmission process between the sender andthe recipient is omitted.

As illustrated in FIG. 67, once the dispatched information reaches therecipient, the recipient receives an alert informing him that newinformation has arrived. Next, as FIG. 67 illustrates, the recipientopens the message so as to review the information received. Next, asillustrated in FIG. 67, the recipient manipulates the flag boxes todetermine which information to store in the recipient's database (whichinformation to accept) and which information to reject. Also, a colorcoded schema may identify the status of the dispatched documents to therecipient. In addition, the recipient may be provided with icons or someother user interface representation to allow the recipient to view thereceived document. As illustrated in FIG. 67, once the recipient selectswhich fields and documents to accept, the accepted information isuploaded to the recipient's database. In particular, the system may askfor confirmation of the mapping, also if new fields are being uploaded(fields that were not previously mapped), the system may request therecipient to map this new received fields with an already existing fieldin the recipient's database or to add a new field for this receivedfield. The information and the supporting documentation is thus uploadedinto the recipient's database.

This IE process can be applied to internal and external businesspractices for a wide range of businesses including event planners,consumers, health care, contractors, banks, non-profits, manufacturers,unions, governments, and anyone who needs to exchange and manageinformation between each other.

The IE seamless integrations of ISD are performed by mapping data fieldsusing a common library of industry data fields. The dynamic fieldgeneration empowers the user to easily develop the necessary ISD fieldsthat their community may need to manage. Each user in each industrydynamically creates document types and custom fields that manageinformation inside those document types as well as information fieldsthat hold independent data. A unique GUID for each field or documenttype is created. When the user cannot find a term to their liking, theycan simply create a new term to manage the ISD. This new term is addedto the library of industry data fields and a GUID is attached to it.During the information exchange process, IE reconciles the list ofincoming fields with the existing list of fields and presents therecipient with several options. IE first looks for existing equivalentfields using GUIDS. If the ISD has not been mapped between the usersthen the GUIDS will not be identical. The WMS will then display mappingsby field names. If an exact match does not exist or the user wants toview other data field names, the WMS displays similar field names towhich the incoming data field can be mapped. If the user is notsatisfied with the terms on the existing list or if the incoming datafield to be mapped is a new type of data, the users simply adds a newfield to their database.

For example, this may be accomplished by a simple wizard that displaysthe information delivered by the user in an easy to read format with themapping that has been suggested from the library of industry datafields. The user reviews the mapping, makes adjustments, accepts orrejects part or all of the information and then IE seamlessly uploadsthe ISD into the recipient's database for management. Once the fieldsbetween two users have been mapped, IE maintains the mapping to empowerseamless, effortless exchange while allowing the user to make changesand redirect ISD to new data fields as needed or desired.

IE enables the user to review information before accepting it. Theinformation is displayed in full before being loaded into therecipient's database. The user has the opportunity to confirm themapping of information and to accept or reject specific fields orsupporting documentation. IE's screens are easy to read with check boxesnext to each information field along with icons to view documents. Theuser can quickly and easily accept or reject the information. Thisprocess helps to inform users of what information has been accepted bythe recipient and what has not. The information is managed through colorcodes and smart alert rules that have been established by each user tomanage common information between users in the industry.

The following is an example of the IE process. Typically the user whofirst handles the data will perform the data entry, or use OCRtechnology and confirm the information. Once confirmed, the user caneasily distribute the information as needed to the community ofrecipients. The user uses the templates they designed to manageinformation that is common in the industry. Each user dynamically setsup their own document types and information fields. The users can namethe fields anything they wish and the mapping process will enable themto link information, just as language allows people to communicate ineveryday conversation.

The terms used in the community of users are typically the same, thusthe mapping process is easy to use. Once mapped, the relationship is setand there is no need to map on each occurrence. If one party in therelationship has changed terminology the report will easily identifythis as a new field and the user can map it. The reverse is true, if therecipient has changed terminology they can re-map information to ensureit is put in the right fields. In addition, if the user is not sure theycan view the data or document to double check. The users in thecommunity understand the language and use it to set up their owndatabases for their own internal management of information. Theinformation is then transferred into fields with similar titles thatenable the system to reconcile information and supporting documents.

As users evolve with IE, they will define their own community where theyshare a common relationship of information and eliminate duplicateentry. Information is broken down into common templates with fields thatare common in the industry. WMS manages these terms in the WMS libraryand currently utilizes web services to manage the library, enabling aseamless integration between users. When the information is distributed,it is done so with electronic transfer that creates a report for theuser to view and evaluate what if any of the information they want toaccept. This is done through easy to use screens with flag boxes todetermine what they want to accept.

The information that has been accepted is then distributed into theuser's database. When fields appear that do not have clear mapping fromthe WMS library, a wizard appears offering the user the ability to mapthe fields. If there are no similar fields, the user can simply allowWMS to add new fields. These fields will be mapped and added to thedatabase. This is done through technology available today and willembrace new technology to improve the efficiency as it becomesavailable.

The initial process starts as the user develops templates forinformation and the supportive documentation for the common informationshared among users in the relationship. These fields map and manage theinformation. When a unique field is created, the user has an option toonly display the field for that relationship or add it as a default tothe document type template. When information is received the user caneasily create new dynamic fields to manage the incoming information aswell as how the supporting documentation is managed. In addition, theuser has the ability to change or assign new smart management businessrules around the information and supportive documentation.

For instances, if a contractor submits a new type of insurance document,that is new to the recipient and new dynamic fields have been generated,the user has options to map the information or dynamically create a newdocument template and fields to mange the new information. For example,mold insurance, the document type is created to capture mold insuranceas a document type, key fields are created to handle the specific fieldsof the document such as the expiration date, the limits of theinsurance, the signature of the insurance certificate, the insurancecompany's name, address and phone number, along with the brokers name,address and phone number. In this example, both users have beenempowered to have clear seamless insurance submittals. This eliminatesduplicate entry, and benefits both users. The sender knows the user hastheir information on file and the recipient knows they have it on fileand it is current. Therefore, one of the many benefits to the communityof users is payments to the user can be smoother because both sides ofthe relationship know what has been sent, without wondering if it is inthe mail, on someone's deck or some other place. It will be in theelectronic file, ready for review and access. These fields aredynamically created in the recipient's database to manage the incomingelectronic information.

Moreover, IE empowers the user to set smart alerts such as sending anemail to the sender when the document is going to expire in 30 days, anda reminder if a new document has not been submitted 7 days before theexpiration. The number of days to monitor and the individuals who willbe sent an email are set up by the user. Business rules can be set toenable the user to have company default setting every time a documentwith an expiration date is developed or they can be set during theinitial setup. In addition, the user is empowered to set as many smartalerts as they like. For example, another email can be sent to theProject Manager informing them that a document is about to expire. Othervariations are possible and are within the scope of the invention.

In this embodiment, the information is received from the user databaseand is mapped to the destination database. The community is empowered bythe elimination of duplicate entry. The information can be sent ineither directions and be reconciled at the receiving end(s). Therefore,it is easy for the users to distribute information back and forthwithout concern of it being lost, overwritten, or deleted.

Auto update can be set up on any level of information. A complete file,such as an employee, or as specific as an employee's drug test result.Auto update identifies any information that has been changed betweenusers and creates a seamless update. Both parties can have auto updateturned on. When new information is added the information willautomatically update the designated recipient's files. A log will storethe transaction to show when the event occurred. The recipient receivesthe information in their IE mail box, if the event has been autoenabled, the file will automatically load into the destination databaseupdating the data and bypassing the review process. The user will benotified when the new information has arrived and has been loaded. Theuser can view the information to ensure they agree with the loaded data.If there is anything they are not satisfied with they can simply reversethe uploading. The power of the auto upload is the ability for companydefaults to manage the information. This management with the smartalerts empowers the user to stay informed up to the minute.

The user can access this logical part by simply clicking an IE tab. Ascreen with a number of messages is displayed. For each message, anumber of workers, documents, jobs and etc. may be shown. Similar to theother logical parts, a number of filters can be set. For example, afilter by message status (read, unread and dispatched messages), bycompany (originating company name), number of messages to display perpage (how many messages to see on each page of the inbox) and so on maybe set. The user may delete certain messages, compose new messages orread the received messages.

Compose a New Message

A new message may be composed as follows. A user may simply click on anew message data and select from information for dispatch (worker,document, customer, job, company or contact) as illustrated in FIG. 68A.The user is then provided with a screen to edit details of the newmessage as illustrated in FIG. 68B. In addition, the user is providedwith a list of recipients, allowing the user to select the recipient asillustrated in FIG. 68B. Filters exist allowing the user to easily flagthe values by which to filter and to find the desired information. Inthe case of the worker information in the environmental contractingindustry, those filters may be for temporary or available workers. Theflag box filters are activated using the button “Apply Filter”, forexample. A drop down filter may exist to further sort the information inthe originating database. In the case of the environmental contractingindustry, a workforce database may allow the user to filter byemployment status. A table appears below the above mentioned filtersholding data from the originating database. In the case of a workerdatabase in the environmental contracting industry, the table includescolumns for flag boxes to select the workers, employee number, workername, social security number, status, and other items such as documents.FIG. 68C illustrates selection of fields for the worker and documenttypes to be dispatched with the worker information.

Next, the user can use this table to further select information. Forexample, the user can select to dispatch the information in the table bysimply clicking “select all.” Alternatively, the user can simply putchecks next to the items to be dispatched (i.e. check marks next to theworkers whose information is to be dispatched). If an item in the tableis selected, the information is displayed below the table as illustratedin FIG. 68D. As a result, the user can quickly and easily review theinformation which is to be dispatched. The user can also include a textmessage as illustrated in FIG. 68D to be dispatched along with the datafrom the originating database (e.g., “This is all the workers we placeto use for X job. Please review their documents”). Next, the user simplyclicks to send a message and a window pops up relating the status of thedispatch. When the dispatch is complete the user has the option to closethe window or return to the information exchange main screen.

Dispatching data into a system will add or modify data in therecipient's database. Data can be dispatched with options: “New DataOnly” or a “Full Update”. Dispatching New Data Only will insert data inthe fields for which the recipient database does not already havevalues. Dispatching data with the “Full Update” option will overwriteexisting data in the recipient database with values from the originatingdatabase.

But even when the “Full Update” some of the information is notnecessarily transmitted. In order to increase the speed of theinformation exchange, before sending an image, a document, an industryrepresentation or an ISD, transparently to the user, a unique hashingnumber is transmitted to the destination database. The hashing number isunique to that particular ISD and is usually consists of twenty bytes.Upon receiving the hashing number, the destination database searches forthis hashing number within its system database files. If the hashingnumber is located, this means that this ISD is also present in thedestination database. Therefore, the ISD is not transmitted from thesource database but is simply loaded from the destination database. Onthe other hand, if the unique hashing number is not located in thedestination database, then the ISD is transmitted from the sourcedatabase. This process is transparent to the user. The user will receivea message with all of the ISDs, irregardless of whether they areretrieved from the destination database or dispatched from the sourcedatabase.

As a result, any number of information can be dispatched quickly andeasily by simply setting filters and selecting information from a table.Moreover, information to be dispatched is displayed on the screen forquick review. In addition, it can be specified how the data dispatchedis to modify the recipient's database.

Reading Received Messages

IE messages are directed to the user's information exchange inbox. Inorder to complete the information exchange process, a user must open themessages and accept the dispatch of the delivered information into theirdatabase. In this illustrative, non-limiting embodiment, the message isread as follows. User opens a message and a screen with details of themessage pops up as illustrated in FIG. 68E. The pop up illustrated inFIG. 68E includes message text, the documents and other data types beingdispatched and a list of the exact workers, jobs, customers or otherfiles being delivered. User may request to see details of a documenttype or other data item by clicking on a view icon and the details ofthe data type may be shown in another pop up window.

The system will automatically map the data type to the data type of therecipient's database. For example, an updated physical is received for aworker X. The system will automatically map this document to a documenttype corresponding to a physical and a worker X in the recipient'sdatabase. If, however, the data type is mapped incorrectly or the systemcannot find a corresponding matching data type, the user can manuallyselect a corresponding data type. For example, for those data types thatcannot find corresponding locations, a message will appear reading “NewType.” The user can click on “New Type” to map the data or create a newdata type to which it will be mapped. A new pop up is opened listing thedata types currently in the recipient's database. The user can map theincoming fields to the corresponding fields in the recipient database.If a particular field does not exist in the recipient's database, theuser guided by prompts to the administrative screen where the field canbe created, thereby, the new field can be created on the fly withoutleaving the current screen.

Selective Encrypting Sensitive Fields

In transmitting information further security can be provided byselectively encrypting designated data fields. Encrypting data as itpasses from server to client or client to server ensures the security ofsensitive content. Encryption, however, also increases the size andcomplexity of the information being transmitted. In this exemplary,non-limiting embodiment, the size of data being transmitted is minimizedwhile the security of the data being transmitted is maintained. Forexample, only the sensitive information is encrypted while unimportantdata is left as is. By not encrypting the information that isunnecessary to secure, the system limits the size and complexity of thetransmitted data, allowing information to be transmitted faster whilemaintaining the utmost security.

For example, when loading a web page, a large portion of the data beingtransmitted is not necessary to encrypt. Code specific items notincluding user data can make up anywhere from about 40% to 80% of theHTML code on a page. This data is unnecessary to encrypt such as tags,page titles and names of the fields are usually not the sensitiveinformation.

For the sensitive information, however, the system may utilize bothSymmetric and Asymmetric Ciphers to encrypt these sensitive fields.Symmetric Ciphers are easier to implement, require less resources andare faster as the code behind them is smaller. Symmetric Ciphers,however, are easier to break since the key that is being used forencryption is also being used for decryption. The same key is known byboth parties, the encrypting and the decrypting one. Therefore, a keyexchange must happen between them before they can share encryptedinformation. It is easy to intercept the key during the key exchangeprocess and then decrypt the traffic.

Asymmetric ciphers, on the other hand, are virtually impossible to breakas they have two keys, or in other words, a key pair. Asymmetric ciphershave a public key and a private key. The public key encrypts data thatonly a private key can decrypt, and the private key encrypts data thatonly the public key can decrypt. Asymmetric ciphers also allow forverification. The asymmetric ciphers, however, are harder to implement,require more resources and run more slowly as the code behind them ismuch larger.

In this exemplary, non-limiting embodiment, the system creates a sessionkey. In the beginning of a communication, two entities exchange sessionkeys. One entity generates a key pair for asymmetric ciphers and sends apublic key to the other entity. The other entity generates a session keyfor symmetric ciphers. It encrypts the session key with the public keyfrom the other entity and sends it back. The other entity takes theencrypted session key, applies its private key and decrypts it to get tothe original session key as illustrated in FIG. 69. The other approachis to store the public key of transfer initiating entity in thedatabase. This approach allows for verification of initiating entity'sidentity.

The system in this exemplary embodiment identifies the information thatneeds to be encrypted. For example, using SOAP, the system encrypts onlythe elements in the XML, document between the tags. Thus, only thesensitive fields are being encrypted. A programmer, an administrator ora user can decide which sensitive fields should be encrypted. Selectedelements between the tags are encrypted and replaced with the encryptedvalue as are the attributes of the element. The recipient must be awareof the items being encrypted via either implicit methods, whereby thesender assumes that the receiving side knows what is being encrypted andno schema is ever exchanged, or by explicit methods, whereby, everytransmission of information should be prefixed with the encryptionschema. The schema exchange precedes encrypted transmissions.

Alternatively, a mixed method may be provided, whereby the schemaexchange is done independently. After receiving a new encryption schema,the receiving side simply assumes that the rest of the transmissionswill be encrypted according to this schema until a new encryption schemaexchange occurs. An example of an explicit schema would be in the caseof synchronizing our application with a third party accounting packagesuch as Quickbooks. The synchronization module transfers an explicitschema defining which fields will be encrypted, before transmitting thesaid fields. The explicit schema defines exactly which fields will beencrypted, such as worker social security number, wage rates and so on.When the receiving end obtains the schema it is clear exactly whichfields need to be decrypted.

When encrypting data on a web page, the implicit method is generallyused. The HTML code is generated by the server and receives data backfrom the server so there is no need to explicitly exchange theencryption schema. This is slightly more difficult as there is noexplicit control of how to store session keys on a web browser. Onemethod for handling session keys on the client's web browser is throughthe use of an Active X control. One of ordinary skill in the art wouldknow that one could also use a .Net control to handle this function. ForNetscape and non Microsoft approach applets and other client side codeexecution techniques can be used.

For example, the system uses an invisible Active X control thatexchanges the session key with the server and stores it in a securityrepository which exists on a computer that uses MS Windows. A newsession key exchange can be forced from the server or the client. Thenew session key replaces the old session key in the repository. Thereare at least three ways information can be passed between the client andthe server. Text or other items can be pushed from the server to bedisplayed on the client's web browser, data can be input on the clientand submitted to the server, or a combination of the two actions canexist. When the text needs to be displayed on the client, and when nofeedback is expected, WMS creates another Active X, this time a VisibleActive X, whose sole purpose is to display the text to the user. Anobject with Class ID of the provided Active X control is created. TheClass ID is always the same for the Active X control being used. Theencrypted information is passed as a parameter. When the informationreaches the client, the Active X control begins execution. The VisibleActive X takes the encrypted text from the server, obtains the sessionkey from the invisible Active X, decrypts the text and displays it tothe user. This happens during the page uploading process.

In the case where data is submitted to the server from the client, avisible Active X present on the user side captures the information theuser submits. Then, the visible Active X obtains the session key fromthe invisible Active X to encrypt the data and submits it along withother information to the server. The server then decrypts the dataduring the process of receiving posted data from the web page, andprocesses submitted information. A combination of both of the abovedescribed cases can occur, where text is displayed from the server tothe client and information is then submitted by the client to theserver.

Data for encryption can be pre-selected by the system, or a userinterface can be used where the user select the items to encrypt such associal security number or document images. Selective Encryption allowsfor much needed security without significantly increasing thetransmission size. This method is more efficient than the traditionalSSL, where everything is encrypted and the transmission size increasesby up to about four point five times. The other downside of the SSL isthat GZip HTTP encoding cannot be effectively applied to the encrypteddata. Compression rate for the SSL encrypted data is less than aboutfive percent. In this exemplary embodiment, the compression rate isbetter.

In this logical part, the users of IE have the ability to interact withone or more parties and exchange information electronically whichempowers them to work more efficiently, reducing cost and becoming moretimely with decisions and actions within the relationship. With methodsthat prevent duplicate entry, IE verification, IE smart management andIE Auto Update, the information is managed quickly and easily. IE is adocument management solution that helps eliminating paper work, and toenable document validation to ensure compliance with governmentrequirements, and to manage critical records securely.

Moreover, in the illustrative, non-limiting embodiment, the IE grantsvarious permissions to different users. The rights to accept or dispatchdata using information exchange are derived from the account typesassigned to users. Account types and their corresponding permissions aredynamically created by the system administrator during the initial setupof the system and throughout operation of the WMS. In addition, bycomparing the unique hashing numbers of the documents beforetransmitting the documents, as described above, duplicative transmissionof data is prevented transparently to the user. This exemplary IE can beapplicable to a number of industries, examples of which are providedbelow.

Health Care Industry

The health care community could benefit greatly with IE. For example,doctors, labs and hospitals could each have their own independentdatabase managing patient information with the benefits of the WMS, seeFIG. 70A. The information stream that is exchanged between each userscould be done quickly, seamlessly and without paper enabling each userthe ability to maintain long term storage for access when needed. Forexample, the lab result could be distributed automatically enablingfaster decisions. Doctors could have secure access to critical decisionmaking information that is up to the minute. This would empower doctorsto make better decisions when they are away from the office. It wouldenable their staff to spend less time on the phone hunting down theinformation. IE would create a GUID for each patient enabling seamlesstransfer of data while enabling each user to only transfer what theywant. Notifications could be sent to users when critical data wasavailable or when specific conditions occurred. Pharmacies could beautomatically notified of prescriptions written, giving them greaterlead time and accuracy. A common file could be shared to ensure propersubscriptions to patient by having a shared log of each patients file,when appropriate.

When appropriate, patients could have their own sites to manage theirinformation. Patients with long term care issues could benefit greatlyfrom this process. As laws permit the ability for each user to have apatient file would be enormous, eliminating millions of dollars a yearin document searches for finding and sending patient files as needed.Enabling the community to transfer files without a concern of sendingconfidential information because Smart Management tools will keep themcompliant and not allow the transfer of documents consideredconfidential. The entire process within this small community would bevery efficient. When the parties are included, the cost saving to thecommunity and the increased health care efficiencies are immeasurable.

Non-Profit Organizations

Non-profit organizations and the Labor Board Department have endlessregulations that require information and supporting documentation tomonitor and manage the non-profit organization that have countless hoursand millions of dollars wasted every day with duplicate entry by both ofthese parties. Non-profits have tough compliance reports that requiresubmitting large amounts of information to the Labor Department forreview.

In the conventional systems, some of this information is submittedelectronically, some by paper and some by entering it into web pageformat to the Labor Department. The hours wasted are a tremendous burdenon both users and others, with wasted resources spent entering duplicateinformation to be managed, rather than community services for whichbillions are donated annually. The WMS empowers the relationships tostop the current methods and embrace a solution that enables easytransfer of ISD, to be reviewed and uploaded in a simple process.Empowering both parties to spend their time and resources on moreimportant details for the community. To empower non-profits to have anaffordable solution to better manage their work practices and give thema paperless solutions that will reduce the paper work and make themcompliant with many new laws and regulations.

When non-profits submit information through the WMS, the LaborDepartment and any other organization will benefit tremendously byhaving the ability to review data and have it update their databaseswith auto data entry. The IRS has saved enormous amounts of money usingon line applications. The money saved by non-profits should be easilycomparable to this solution. (Note: one difference regarding the onlineentry is the need for the user to key the information into a form theIRS can read. This process requires the user to submit the form in aformat the IRS can translate, hence duplicate entry of information ismanaged by the user.) Non-profits range in funding, from little toplentiful funds. The WMS empowers non-profits with affordable solutionsthat not only enable the transfer of IE, saving money for the user, butalso to handle their everyday business. The solution enables non profitsto reduce cost and spend more time on their causes. The labor departmentcould require auto updates, as allowed by confidentially regulations, toreceive updates from non-profits to keep a closer eye on theircompliance. This could be accomplished through, IE and smart alertsnotifications.

Unions

In the conventional systems, unions are engulfed in duplicate entry thatamounts to 100's of millions of dollars on an annual basis as a resultof administrative expenses, paper, forms and storage. Each partymaintains their own records and exchange common information on a dailybasis between one or many of the community members to maintain unionmember files and be compliant with each other and the Federal and Stategovernments. The information that is exchanged within this community hasidentical terms; making it effortless to utilize IE. IE can reduce thepaper work, manage information and empower each user independently tosave money, and to focus on the work at hand improving the quality oftheir work performance, see FIG. 70B.

Some of the benefits are: transfer of dates to administrators and UnionHall each week for wages; training updates for union members and staffsof organizations; compliance with ARIS, for work hours to become ajourneyman; compliance of union members for dues, training and workinghours; union contractors ability to purchase licenses, maintain them anddistribute to Union Hall when the work was completed to enable the unionworker to find other work, while insuring they do not get reassignedunder the license purchased by the contractor; easy audits for the LaborBoard and other Government audits; empower the Unions to becomepaperless; secure confidential information for each user of thecommunity; enable Union members to view their files on line. Byempowering the Union to use IE, other users also benefit. Theinformation shared may become flawless, timely and paperless, empoweringthe community to develop better relationships within the group, as wellas with the existing and new customers.

Banks

Banks will receive numerous benefits by utilizing IE. By enabling theIE, banks adopt a paperless solution making them more easily compliantwith various regulations such as the Sarbanes-Oxley act. The banks cancapitalize on IE in numerous ways. For example, transferring filesbetween banks that are not sharing a common platform; transferring databetween newly acquired banks; eliminating costly computers to manageclient based software; enabling loan officers to transfer files withouta concern of sending confidential information because Smart Managementtools will keep them compliant and not allow the transfer of documentsconsidered confidential. In addition, client folders can easily bereviewed for compliance, by using easy to read, user friendly screensthat illustrate compliance, see FIG. 70C. In addition, smart alerts canbe set to ensure that the client files are compliant, producing a dailyreport to inform loan officers of any pending issues. This empowers theloans offices to get the task done, and also empowers the bank officersto ensure compliance with governmental regulations. In addition, the WMSallows the users to secure the information by utilizing documentvalidation to ensure authentic social security cards, driver's licensesand other documents that are required to process loans.

Facility Management

Facility Management can benefit with IE and the WMS by requiringcontractors within their industry to utilize the system. Facilitymanagers receive endless amounts of IDS from contractors, realtors,chemical companies, various vendors and customers, e.g., see FIG. 70D.This requires a tremendous amount of information and paperworkmanagement. IE allows the facility management to exchange data withcontractors easy and seamlessly, thereby reducing the paperwork.

Lawyers and the Court Systems

The court systems and attorneys are engulfed in paper work. The amountof effort extended to manage information in the legal system costsmillions of dollars annually. By utilizing IE methods and procedures thecourt system could drastically reduce the paperwork. By utilizing WMS,the legal system could eliminate unlimited number of tasks that cost taxpayers millions of dollars a year. For example, the WMS provides aninexpensive solution that handles technology and long term storagerequirements, requiring the user to only have a web connection. Whencases are reassigned, the system may automatically update attorneys,clients, and court staff via email, voice broadcast and so on, e.g.,FIG. 70E.

Submittals of files could be done via IE to empower the community ofnecessary readers to read and access the information, while maintainingthe originals in an agreed upon format for review at anytime. This wouldreduce the cost of paper files. It would empower users to have access toinformation quickly as it is developed. Police reports could be easilyassigned to a file, eliminating costly data entry and copier fees. Userscan attach specific notes to each document and information file,enabling them to easily track issues for court documents. The filescould be managed indefinitely, enabling secure electronic file transferto attorneys when they need an update on a client that has been in thesystem for a while. Rather than making costly duplicate files, the usercan simply exchange the data electronically in a secure environment.They can then check to make sure it went through properly via an audittrial. This would reduce copier expenses exponentially within the legalcommunity.

The IE provides the users with the ability to track communityinformation regarding a document, while enabling each specific user toadd new fields to track information they require about a document andkeep it to themselves, while easily managing it for their cases. As aresult, the courts, lawyers, and prison can easily manage a single filefor an individual. It would eliminate the need to have duplicate entry,as any new user can simply purchase a WMS license and have access to thefile, enabling them to view and manage any information permitted by thesource they request it from.

Real Estate

For example, a Realtor can create a contract between a buyer and seller,see FIG. 70F. They can manually or electronically complete the contract.Upon completion, the user enters key fields and scans the signeddocument through easy to use WMS bar code scanning or faxing. Thedocument is forwarded to the system for upload. The user then simplyselects the Broker, Title Attorney and Mortgage lender with one simpleclick, distributing a copy of the contract and the key information aboutthe contract, along with the client information on both sides of thetransaction. The information is then received and the recipient canconfirm the information and accept or reject it. The recipient caneasily view the contract to confirm the data entry prior to or afteraccepting it. This eliminates the need for the title attorney andmortgage lender to enter the contact names and contract terms manually.

Through easy custom links the information can be dispatched to theirpropriety applications for processing loans and title work. If the TitleAttorney has specific information about the contract that they need tomanage, which had not been previously keyed by the realtor, the attorneycan easily add another field, click on the icon, load the informationand manage it. In addition, the title Attorney could easily associatetheir WMS smart alerts to that information as the information nowresides in their own database.

If the realtor resubmits the contract and the amount of the contract haschanged, the recipient can select archive existing contract information,or allow the information to be overwritten. The user can easily managechanges by versioning the information and supporting documentation. Thisensures an audit trail and the ability to see what happened to the dataand track changes as they occur. The user can set up the audit trail toversions or only as requested. The WMS features empower the user andcommunity of users to manage the information as if they were doing itthe old fashioned way with folders and paper, except that it is beingdone electronically with only one actual paper file of the documentresiding with the realtor or the initial user.

Similar to the relationship illustrated in FIG. 70F, this exemplary IEmay be applicable to an employee staffing firms. For example, withforeign workers, a sponsoring agency will need to keep a number ofdocuments related to the visa and work permits for the foreign worker.Similarly, a potential employer may request access to a number of workand visa related information and supporting documents. In theconventional techniques, the sponsoring agency simply maintains a papercopy of all the information and supporting documentation. They retainpassport copies, photos of the student, visa application forms, resumes,specialized training certifications and more. The sponsoring agency thenassists the visa applicant with finding temporary, usually summeremployment in the US. The sponsor must then send all the informationthey have on that applicant to the potential employer.

With IE, all the necessary information and supporting documentation maybe stored in the database, and visa expiration dates and similar datesmay be tracked. Moreover, the user may select the information andsupporting documentation needed by a potential employer and dispatch theinformation to one or more potential employers using this IE. Similarly,the IE may be used in the context of a staffing agency providing workersto businesses in need of workers. An applicant retains their resume andother professional certifications on file with a staffing agency. Thestaffing agency has relationships with employers. When an employer isseeking an employee and the staff agency finds a match, they can use IEto dispatch the necessary information and supporting documentation tothe employer or a number of interested employers.

General Contractor

General Contractor (GC) and Subcontractor (SC) engage in businesstogether, see FIG. 70G. They share a common relationship on one or manyprojects. Within this relationship, they need to exchange informationand supporting documentation. The sub-contractor has to submit history,references and areas they would like to bid. The GC has to manage thatinformation for this subcontractor and many others. In the conventionalsystems, the GC receives the information and hand keys the information,scans documents or attaches electronic files to a database. With IE, thecontractor could easily receive, review and upload the data they wantedto manage, with supporting documentation. The GC and SC would engage ina contract that will specify common information. This information canchange overtime as new contract issues arise. Therefore, the users candynamically create fields to manage the new required information.

The relationship requires the users to typically engage in a contract.When they do so, there is information that both parties manage, forexample, contract amount, contract number, terms, conditions, supportingdocumentation required. When the GC submits the contract, they submitthe document as well as the fields for compliance if necessary. The SCreceives a message stating a new message has arrived, they review themessage and determine what they want to receive; upon acceptance theymanage the information within their own database. The WMS empowers theSC to accept only the information and documentation they want to receivefrom the GC.

In this example, the SC wants to select the contract, the amount of thecontract, the contract number, the specific conditions of the contract,bond amount, workforce trade requirements, data of completion, keycontacts, products required to use and materials required to use. The SCnavigates the list with a series of check boxes. This is the first timethe SC has worked with the GC so when the information is accepted, theterm contract number is different. The SC spelled out number and the GCused the # sign when creating the document type fields. So the SC simplymaps the fields together. Going forward this information will beexchanged seamlessly; no further mapping will be required.

In addition, the contract has a field that was managing data called,liquidated damage amount. The SC, in this case does not have this field.So the SC uses simple check box navigation to say “yes, create newfield”. Upon acceptance the new field will be added to the fields thatare managed for contracts. Going forward the fields will be mappedbetween users and any new contracts with this user or other users willbe available to capture the information. If this is a unique field tothis relationship only, the user can simply select the document type inthe GC file and set a simple check box to say view only in this customfile, do not display in template.

If another field comes in during the mapping process, the WMS will askthe user if they want to activate this field for this new event only, oractivate permanently, or create another new field. This flexibilityallows the user to handle the information easily and seamlessly. In theIE, once the relationship is linked between two or more users, themapping is applicable to subsequent information exchanges.

In short, IE offers easy to manage viewing screens to monitor theinformation in color code and view the status of the ISDs. IE enablestwo or more parties to work in a seamless environment reducing hundredsof wasted hours managing and re-keying information. Users utilize the IEto easily forward small or large files to the recipient. With a fewsimple mouse clicks the information is submitted to the recipient. Witha few simple mouse clicks the user verifies the information and thenaccepts or rejects the information and populates their database enablingthe WMS to manage the information with smart alerts. The IE mayeliminate the need to re-key data once it has already been entered intoa database; it may also eliminate the need to rescan information once ithas been loaded in electronic form, and it may eliminate the need forrecipients to fax, FedEx, UPS or distribute documents by other costlymeans.

The user can set new fields to be specific to a certain relationship oradd them to the global template. If the user has set the field to be fora specific relationship, the WMS asks if they want to activate the fieldfor that information of another specific relationship and or to add thefiled to the template. The WMS empowers users to act quickly withaccurate and validated IDS. The system set in place monitors complianceusing smart alerts set by the user.

The WMS is an open dynamic platform that allows two or more users tocreate document types and common information types that develop aplatform to exchange and manage information quickly and easily. IE givesthe user complete control over what they share while enabling the userto easily view information and manage the information before populatingit in their database.

By empowering users to utilize IE, the user has the ability to removeduplicate entry while validating information that has been submitted.This process gives users the ability to easily work together whilesaving hours otherwise spent on duplicate entry and as a result, missingthe opportunity to evaluate the information because of time restraints.With IE, once one of the users has captured the information, the entirecommunity may utilizes that entry as if it were their own. This savesthe community from everyone entering the same information over and overand making data entry errors.

WMS empowers the user to manage information through color coding, emailalerts, voice broadcast and pop-ups, based on user defined businessrules. The user is able to better manage their activities and the entirecommunity of users is empowered to be more efficient and produce moreresults, with precise information, more reliable and faster without theneed to wait for analysis as a result of re-keying data.

The ability to exchange information and supporting documentation andremove duplicate entry frees business managers to use their time morewisely and efficiently, focusing on work at hand as opposed to beingslaves to data entry. The need to manage, sort, analyze and track datais imperative for anyone to make decisions within a relationship,whether it is a home owner viewing their calendar for their children'splay group times, or a banker sharing loan documents between branchesacross a state. The user has control over the information theydistribute and receive. The IE enables the community of users theability to utilize dynamic entry of fields to manage new terms in thecommunity.

Parties benefit from IE; the process is easy, fast, seamless andaffordable compared to what it costs to re-key data for users large andsmall. The process which enables 24/7 access, storage and access as aweb-based application is priced similar to cell phone packages. The IEauto update can be set up on any level of information to ensureinformation is managed as quickly as the information is available.

I. WMS Solutions

The WMS Solution module is easy to use. Many conventional softwareapplications require the user to navigate through numerous screenswithin modules to enter information. Typically, there is an associationbetween one module and another. During data entry, many times an eventoccurs that has not been set up in the predefined menu, causing the userto have to leave the existing screen and navigate to the setup screen,adjust the information and finally navigate back. The WMS uses pop-upscreens to enable the user to reach out and adjust the information onthe fly without leaving the base screen they are working on. The use oftab-based menus on a number of screens enables the user to go to anyscreen within the WMS without losing data or confusion. This saves theuser substantial time without unnecessary keystrokes and navigation.

Another feature of the systems is the “auto updating screen”—as the useredits or inputs information, the data and calculations refresh with theadjusted accurate data. An example of this would be if an accountant wasentering payroll information and the worker was given a raise, asexplained above. With the WMS payroll system the user could enter thenew wage directly over the old and it would apply for that pay periodonly, or the user could click on the worker icon and pull up there filein one click, then select the worker edit button, then enter the newwage rate, then click exits the screen and the user would be right backin the payroll data enter screen with the new wage displayed. In theconventional payroll applications this would require the user to leavethe screen, go the worker file, set the new wage and then return to thepayroll date screen. The WMS solution is fast, easy and always deliversup to date information to the user. This module has the followingsub-modules 1) call broadcast, 2) smart alerts and pop-ups notificationsand 3) Custom Document Report Writer.

1) Call Broadcast

This sub-module utilizes broadcast calling to inform workers of changesin work schedule, new potential work or company information, and remindthe worker of scheduled qualification updates. Through the use ofpredefined sorts, flagging and scheduling, this sub-module calls aspecific group of workers to broadcast a message the user creates. Themessage is left in voice by the user and is set to be broadcast at aspecific time set by the user.

This sub-module has a relational link between broadcast calling and theneed to respond or directly communicate to a specified group of peoplefor a specific reason by using a database to define or flag that group.Broadcast calling has been designed to specifically generate prerecordedmessages to a group of people. This sub-module has refined thiscapability to be used within software to identify specific groups ofpeople to contact such as a predefined workforce, a workforce based oncertain criteria, a group of predefined customers or vendors.

In addition, the WMS allows for the use of broadcast calling to respondto calls with the use of personalized messages. This empowers businessowners, salesman, brokers, coaches and others giving them the ability torespond to the tremendous flow of incoming calls with one simplebroadcast call addressing a similar issue. The WMS Broadcast CallFeature has been designed to be a stand-alone feature that can beembedded in any software application that creates a call list or standon its own and have a call list loaded to it from any softwareapplication.

This sub-module is a solution for sending information and reminders tothe workforce through a selection of a specific group of workers and thetechnology of broadcast calling. In the conventional systems,administrators are required to make numerous phone calls to remindworkers of upcoming qualification updates and work schedules, recruitworkers for new staffing demands, inform workers of new policies andchanges in worker schedules, as well as many other issues that requirethe same or similar information to inform the worker.

In many instances the user is required to take a long list of phonenumbers home to make calls in the evening and early morning in anattempt to reach the worker. With the use of WMS broadcast calling theuser can set a specific time, a specific group of workers, selection ofnumbers to call, home, cell phone, other number and record a specificmessage in their own voice to be dispatched directly to the worker. Witha click of a button the user can go home without their list of workers,and know that the automated system will call and give the worker theinformation they need.

The worker can respond to the message by use of the telephone keypad. Byfollowing the instructions on the message the worker can dial in aresponse sending it directly back to the user. The user will receive adetailed report instantly upon dispatch informing them of each worker'sresponse or what resulted from the call. If a fax machine was reached,the worker hung up on the call, or a voice mail was reached and amessage left, the report gives detailed information allowing the user tomake more informed decisions. The user can easily record a secondmessage and send a second call to the same group or a selection of theoriginal group called quickly and easily with the selection of a fewoptions.

An example of this would be the need for a company to hire 20 additionalworkers to perform demolition work for a recently awarded project. Inthe conventional systems, most administrators are required to digthrough old worker files, retrieve their numbers, and then start dialingto see if the workers are available to return to work. This could bedone during the day but typically the worker would be out performingtheir new job and would not be home until after their day's activities.Therefore, calling in the evening and early morning is the best time toreach the worker. Upon′ receiving the call, the worker is informed ofthe project and easily dials 1 to respond that they are ready to workand will be happy to start on Monday. This information is dispatcheddirectly back to the user. The user is then able to quickly see theresponses. In this case, the end user may have selected 20 of the bestworkers he used on the last project. Ten may have dialed (1), sayingthey will be in on Monday, three dialed (2) saying thank you but theyhave a job but please keep them on the call list, two dialed (3) sayingno thank you, one dialed (4) saying please take me off your call list.The report showed 16 responses, 1 voice mail reached, 1 fax machine and2 numbers that were disconnected. The user checks their records and seesthat several of the workers with disconnected numbers have friends thatcurrently work with the company. This sub-module enables the user totrack groups of workers enabling the user to expand their reach whentrying to find workers. The administrator creates a new message and setsa new broadcast call to the friends asking them to let the worker knowthey have work available. Again, the WMS would submit information backto the user regarding the call. In this case one of the friends dialed(1) informing the user that they knew where the worker was and wouldinform them of the message.

Another example of this sub-modules ability, worker broadcast is theability to call a specific group of workers that meet a certain jobcriteria. This could be single best method for finding worker to respondto emergency work. With the use of WMS worker broadcast call, the usercan call as few as 1 or as many as thousands of workers in a singleinstance. With the use of WMS Job Management or the WMS search engine,the user can easily identify a group of workers with specific skills andqualifications and broadcast a call with a simple click of the button toqualified workers to respond to the need. This would enable the user tocontact numerous workers in seconds as opposed to hours to be able tomake immediate decisions. In the past, telephone trees would beestablished while one worker would call ten and another ten. With theWMS, the worker cannot only broadcast call 1000 workers be called buttheir responses could be identified immediately. During a crises, such alarge chemical spill or even worse a bio-terrorist attack, the systemcan quickly identify who is qualified to work at that location based onState and Federal training regulations and within seconds make unlimitedphone calls dispatching the message allowing each worker to reply with aresponse informing the end user of their ability to respond. This is aninvaluable resource for the ability to receive workers who typicallycarry cell phones and have no other way of being reached.

Another example of the Worker broadcast call is the ability to send areminder to the worker regarding a schedule qualification update. Eachqualification stored in the worker file has the ability to be scheduledfor an update. When the update is scheduled the user has the option tonotify the worker of the update. The notification can be set at a neededtime or several times and so on.

For example, a worker may be required to get a new physical, and theuser can set a reminder call to be sent the evening before to the workerreminding them of the doctor's appointment the next day. The worker alsohas the ability to respond as to there intentions. In addition, anotherreminder is sent 1 hour before the scheduled appointment. Finally amessage is sent 2 hours after the appointment to verify the workerattended the appointment. The response to each of these calls informsthe user of the status of the qualification update and enables the userto make decisions about the workers availability.

If the worker, dialed (2), for example, which responded they did notmake the doctors appointment, the user would know at that instant thatthe worker would be unable to work the following Monday and the oppositeof that would be knowing the worker completed their physical and wasready to go. The use of reminder messages is a way for the users toensure their work force keeps up with updates and remains qualified towork.

For example, every time a worker's driver's license is going to expire,a voice call will be dispatched to the worker reminding them to get anew driver's license, the worker responds to the message, and the userknow that the issue is being addressed.

WMS Job Reassignment Broadcast

The WMS broadcast call enables the user to dial to anyone within thedatabase. Typically the user would like to call each customer, vendor,worker or staff personally, however, due to heavy time demands orunusually circumstances the user may not have the ability to do so, orthe user may have a need to set up a call in advance. Through the use ofthe WMS broadcast call, the user can select from any database in the WMSsystem and create a message to be dispatched to those specified numbers.This allows the user to inform individuals of information and quicklyreceive a response to make better business decisions.

For example, if a job has been rescheduled for two weeks. Rather thanthe user having to call the associated parties, the WMS makes it easyfor the user to identify which customers, vendors, staff and workersshould be called. The personalized message is made regarding a number ofdetails and the message is simply sent. The recipient responds andwithin minutes the user knows who they have to find and inform, whileknowing that a number of entities have already responded and that theycan make it for the rescheduled new date.

WMS Customer Broadcast

Today, many people do not have instant email access, however, mostbusiness professionals have cell phones. The WMS provides the user withthe ability to utilize the customer database to track which customerswish to receive broadcast calling and which customers do not want toreceive broadcast calling. With the use of the customer broadcast, theuser can easily identify which customers the user wants to call, createa personalized message, and set the responses to inform the user whetheror not they will need to call the customer regarding the sale.

This enables both the user and the customer to control their time moreefficiently. In order to get away from offensive voice mails today, theuser would simply discuss the use of the message broadcast and note thecustomer broadcast file requested or denied. By making this selection,the WMS knows when to accept or reject a request to broadcast call to acustomer. An example of sending a broadcast call to the customer wouldbe the availability to utilize a new piece of equipment. The user cancreate a specific message asking their customers if they would beinterested in hearing more about this equipment. Since the relationshiphas already been determined the user is comfortable to dispatch the calldirectly to the customers' cell phone. The user can respond dial (1),please send me more information, dial (2) to respond not interested ordial (3) do not use this form of communication in the future. The WMScustomer broadcast would be set up to monitor activity and to inform theuser of each response allowing them to make better business decisions inthe future.

WMS Response Broadcast Call

Due to the tremendously busy schedules and difficulty in responding tonumerous phone calls within a day, the WMS provides a Response Broadcastcall. This method of utilizing the broadcast abilities enables the userto easily select an individual or group of individuals to call and senda response to. By reviewing the WMS task list, or any list, WMS responsebroadcast call, is a stand-alone feature that can be modified to anycontact database, task database, or any type of software that canidentify a list. The user can send a personalized response explainingwhy they could not respond and when they would be able to respond.

For example, when the user is tied up in a meeting all day, and theyreturned to their office at the end of the day with 20 phone calls tomake in 15 minutes before they had to leave to their son's soccer game.Rather than not responding to the calls, or missing the soccer game, theuser sets up two calls, one that is very personalized to 12 of thecallers who are close customers, explaining the circumstances of themeeting and the need to get to the soccer game, and if it is criticalplease call on their cell phone, otherwise they will call in themorning. The other 8 callers would receive a call saying they will becalled back in the morning. Using the WMS response call, individuals cantake control of the immense responsibility of returning phone calls,while maintaining a balance to the numerous calls necessary in today'sbusy world.

For example, the soccer coach may receive 10 phone calls from Momswanting to know if the soccer game is still on for tomorrow with all therain. With a simple click in a software database such as ACT, the usercan identify whom to call, set up a personal message and off it goes. Inthe morning, the coach can wake up and make a new message to send out tothe players to inform them of the final decision. This broadcast callingis an efficient solution to respond to too many calls. Two messages canbe recorded for 20 different calls. Sales updates can be personalized.

2) Smart Alerts and Pop-Ups Notifications

The WMS has a combination of email alerts and pop ups that can be turnedon and off by the user for monitoring and notification of specific jobmanagement and document management. A number of alerts were describedabove. By utilizing emails and pop up alerts within job management anddocument management the user has the ability to prevent cost overruns,breach of company policy, insure necessary updates of requirements andskills and to notify management of thresholds that have been reached.Each alert and pop up offers the ability for the user to be reminded andnotified upon specified criteria that will enable the user to bettermanage and execute their business plan. Traditional pop ups and emailshave been sent has reminders, WMS has captured the relationship ofdocument management and job critical information that enables the userto define threshold notification levels to better manage their business.

The system also provides scheduled alerts to notify the administratorwhen a worker needs an update or has completed an update. The schedulealert gives the user the ability to attach, not only a pop up and emailreminder of a worker document that is going to expire, but also allowsthe user to manage the alert. The user can request a smart alert tonotify an administrator 30 days from expiration of each document for aworker. If the update has not occurred the smart alert can send a newalert to the administrator and the manager. A third alert can be sentwhen the document is not updated 2 days prior to expiration to theadministrator, manager and owner. The user controls who receives theemail alerts, the number of days, and the frequency. The smart alert,which consists of emails or pop ups or both are controlled peroccurrence. In addition, the alerts can be sent to the worker, via emailor WMS out call. Additionally, smart alerts for Job Cost, Schedule,Payroll, Documents, Documents Distribution, Task Reminders and otherCustom Alerts are embedded throughout the WMS system.

3) Custom Document Report Writer

WMS custom reports allows the user to dynamically generate reports fromanywhere within the WMS system. By utilizing the report writer the usercan identify fields within the database and build custom reports to meettheir needs. The report wizard walks the user through the process stepby step insuring the integrity of the data and its relationships fordistribution. In the event the user is unable to build a report, the enduser has the ability to call the WMS document center for support orcontract our system partners to develop any type of report informationthey need.

An example of a custom document report could be a quick document statusreport that generates a report informing the user of the workers thatare currently working, what job they are working on, their pay rates,the average pay-rate for the job, and reconciles the number of men onsite compared to the number requested.

J. Vendor Management

The vendor management module of this exemplary, non-limiting embodimentof the WMS system allows the user to effectively manage aspects ofuploading and tracking information related to vendors. In this exemplaryembodiment, the vendor management module is split into 1) adding newvendor and 2) vendor list. To add a new vendor, the user may simplyclick on a corresponding button illustrated in FIG. 71. The vendorinformation may be split into vendor details, contacts and vendordocuments, which may be accessed by clicking on the corresponding tabs.Thereby, the user may enter details for the vendor, the vendor's contactinformation and upload documents for the vendor (e.g., coupons).Similarly, the user may edit vendor information and documents bymanipulating the corresponding tabs.

In addition, the user may view a list of vendors by clicking on acorresponding tab. The user can set preferences, select fields which areto be displayed on the vendor list. For example, the user may select tobe view vendor name and phone only or address and email information andso on.

K. Company Management

The company management module of this exemplary, non-limiting embodimentallows the user to effectively manage aspects of information related tothe company. For example, the user may set or change the password forthe company. In addition, the user may add, edit and view companyinformation and company related documents. This module provides the userwith the ability to set defaults and preferences as illustrated in FIG.72. For example, the user can set account preferences, documentpreferences and so on. Finally, in this module, the user can create andset smart alerts for the company.

IV. Summary of the Exemplary Architectural Design of the WorkerManagement System

The exemplary, non-limiting embodiment of the present invention hasnumerous advantages, providing the users with ways to streamline andsimplify complex work and staffing requirements. With the WMS describedherein, the user can manage the complete project, including workers,documents, scheduling, budgeting and payroll functions from a singleuser interface and using a single depository of data that is accessed inreal-time. Real-time input and output attributes are integratedthroughout the WMS. Real-time information is loaded into the system asworkers enter and leave the system, using traditional print,computerized input or bar code input.

By using WMS, the user is able to view that day's activities quickly andrapidly, and using real-time date capture by use of a Nextel phone, timecard scan, PDA or any web device, the user has control of the job site.The user also has real-time visibility into scheduled costs, actual sitecosts, schedule progress, and can thereby readily determine actualversus scheduled costs. For example, if the owner has scheduled 10people, as the 11th person tries to sign in the supervisor is sent amessage denying the workers ability to sign in without an override.

Also, any inventory or materials associated with a project can betracked in accordance with the site requirements or number of personnelemployed. Finally, payroll is automatically calculated based on theworkers assigned to a particular job.

The system can be hosted in a central location and configured forweb-based delivery to respective customers for the system, or hostedthrough a dedicated computer network, either inter-company orintra-company. In other words, multiple independent customers may accessthe WMS software through an Internet connection to a single hostfacility. Also, a customer may choose a stand-alone version of thesoftware to be configured on a dedicated internal computer network.Whether web-based or dedicated, the customer may also grant otherentities access to the customer's data via a series of permissions andsecure logins. Other variations are possible and are within the scope ofthe invention.

The WMS manages the relationship between workers' skills,qualifications, job requirements, schedule requirements and taskrequirements, thereby providing a simple solution to job management. Theability to control and manage these issues with flexibility andreliability, while having critical cost information continually updatedin real-time, enables the users to make better decisions. The WMS systemhas the following broad capabilities: Resource Management—allowsscheduling of workers by day and/or week; Resource Search—allowssearching of workers to find available workers with certain specifiedqualifications; Print/fax/email—allows documentation (bycustomer/job/worker) to be batch printed/faxed/emailed through singleselection; Worker Document Management—stores/retrieves/manages workerregulated documents; Customer Contact Management—manages theclient/customer history, pay rates, contact information; Customer JobManagement—manages the type of job, location, notes, history, regulatedindustry requirements; Payroll Management—allows worker time to beentered and generates paychecks based on worker pay rates and hoursinput; Invoice Management—generates custom invoices based on worker timeentered against customer and job; Custom payroll/accountingimport/export functions with widely used conventional payroll/accountingsystems, for example, Paychex, ADP and Quickbooks and other availablesystems; and so on.

The above-identified invention may be embodied in a computer programproduct, as will now be explained. On a practical level, the softwarethat enables the computer system to perform the operations describedfurther below in detail, may be supplied on any one of a variety ofmedia. Furthermore, the actual implementation of the approach andoperations of the invention are actually statements written in aprogramming language. Such programming language statements, whenexecuted by a computer, cause the computer to act in accordance with theparticular content of the statements. Furthermore, the software thatenables a computer system to act in accordance with the invention may beprovided in any number of forms including, but not limited to, originalsource code, assembly code, object code, machine language, compressed orencrypted versions of the foregoing, and any and all equivalents.

One of skill in the art will appreciate that “media”, or“computer-readable media”, as used here, may include a diskette, a tape,a compact disc, an integrated circuit, a ROM, a CD, a cartridge, aremote transmission via a communications circuit, or any other similarmedium useable by computers. For example, to supply software forenabling a computer system to operate in accordance with the invention,the supplier might provide a diskette or might transmit the software insome form via satellite transmission, via a direct telephone link, orvia the Internet. Thus, the term, “computer readable medium” is intendedto include all of the foregoing and any other medium by which softwaremay be provided to a computer.

Although the enabling software might be “written on” a diskette, “storedin” an integrated circuit, or “carried over” a communications circuit,it will be appreciated that, for the purposes of this application, thecomputer usable medium will be referred to as “bearing” the software.Thus, the term “bearing” is intended to encompass the above and allequivalent ways in which software is associated with a computer usablemedium. For the sake of simplicity, therefore, the term “programproduct” is thus used to refer to a computer useable medium, as definedabove, which bears in any form of software to enable a computer systemto operate according to the above-identified invention. Thus, theinvention is also embodied in a program product bearing software whichenables a computer to perform worker and document management systemaccording to the invention.

The invention is also embodied in a user interface invocable by anapplication program. A user interface may be understood to mean anyhardware, software, or combination of hardware and software that allowsa user to interact with a computer system. For the purposes of thisdiscussion, a user interface will be understood to include one or moreuser interface objects. User interface objects may include displayregions, user activatable regions, and the like. As is well understood,a display region is a region of a user interface which displaysinformation to the user. A user activatable region is a region of a userinterface, such as a button or a menu, which allows the user to takesome action with respect to the user interface.

A user interface may be invoked by an application program. When anapplication program invokes a user interface, it is typically for thepurpose of interacting with a user. It is not necessary, however, forthe purposes of this invention that an actual user ever interacts withthe user interface. It is also not necessary, for the purposes of thisinvention, that the interaction with the user interface be performed byan actual user. That is to say, it is foreseen that the user interfacemay have interaction with another program, such as a program createdusing macro programming language statements that simulate the actions ofa user with respect to the user interface.

The WMS may be several separate programs, only one program, a module ofa program, or even a particular task of a module. An applicationsprogram may be written by an applications programmer. Applicationsprogrammers develop applications programs using any of a number ofprogramming languages. During development and design of applicationsprograms, applications programmers may adhere to a programmingmethodology. A programming methodology is a set of principles by whichanalysis is performed and by which design decisions are made.Programming methodologies may be referred to as programming paradigms.Examples of widely-known programming paradigms include the top-down, thedata-driven, and the object oriented (OO) programming paradigms.

The above and other features of the invention including various novelmethod steps and a system of the various modules have been particularlydescribed with reference to the accompanying drawings and pointed out inthe claims. It will be understood that the particular process andconstruction of parts embodying the invention is shown by way ofillustration only and not as a limitation of the invention. Theprinciples and features of this invention may be employed in varied andnumerous embodiments without departing from the scope of the inventionas defined by the appended claims.

1.-3. (canceled)
 4. A method of transmitting information in a documentmanagement system, comprising: reading, by a processor, barcodeinformation from a barcode related to an industry representation; andlinking, by the processor, the barcode information to the industryrepresentation, wherein linking the barcode information includes: whenthe barcode information is complete, storing, by the processor into amemory, the industry representation with the linked barcode information,said complete barcode information includes an industry representationtype and an entity, and when the barcode information is incomplete,manually linking said industry representation to at least one of: theentity and the industry representation type, before storing, by theprocessor in the memory, said industry representation with the linkedbarcode information.
 5. The method of transmitting information accordingto claim 4, wherein when the information is incomplete, temporarystoring said industry representation with the linked barcode informationbefore the manual linking.
 6. The method of transmitting informationaccording to claim 4, wherein the barcode information further includesan expiration date for the industry representation.
 7. The method oftransmitting information according to claim 4, further comprising:transmitting the information by at least one of: uploading theinformation into a database system, transmitting the information via afacsimile, emailing the information, and posting the information to awebsite using SOAP.
 8. The method of transmitting information accordingto claim 4, further comprising: image scanning the industryrepresentation with the barcode and then reading the barcodeinformation.
 9. The method of transmitting information according toclaim 4, further comprising: receiving the industry representation withthe barcode via a facsimile transmission before reading the barcodeinformation.
 10. The method of transmitting information according toclaim 4, wherein the barcode information further comprises custominformation or user generated custom fields.
 11. The method oftransmitting information according to claim 4, wherein the entity is aworker, a vendor, a job, a customer, a contact, a user, or a company andthe industry representation is a certificate, a license, a document, aform, or other industry required representation.
 12. An apparatus totransmit information in a document management system comprising: aprocessor; and a memory including software instruction that enable theapparatus to perform operations of: reading barcode information from abarcode related to an industry representation; and linking the barcodeinformation to the industry representation, wherein: when the barcodeinformation is complete, storing, in the memory, the industryrepresentation with the linked barcode information, said completeinformation includes an industry representation type and an entity, whenthe barcode information is incomplete, manually linking said industryrepresentation to at least one of the entity and the industryrepresentation, before storing, in the memory, said industryrepresentation with the linked barcode information.
 13. The apparatus totransmit the information in the document management system according toclaim 12, wherein, when the barcode information is incomplete, temporarystoring in the memory the industry representation with the linkedbarcode information before the manual linking.
 14. The apparatus totransmit the information in the document management system according toclaim 12, wherein the barcode information further includes an expirationdate for the industry representation.
 15. The apparatus to transmit theinformation in the document management system according to claim 12,wherein the operations further comprise: receiving the industryrepresentation with the barcode via a facsimile transmission orinternet.
 16. The apparatus to transmit the information in the documentmanagement system according to claim 12, wherein the operations furthercomprise: transmitting the information by at least one of: uploading theinformation into a database system, transmitting the information via afacsimile, emailing the information, and posting the information to awebsite using SOAP.
 17. The apparatus to transmit the information in thedocument management system according to claim 12, wherein the operationsfurther comprise: receiving the industry representation with the barcodevia a facsimile transmission before reading the barcode information. 18.The apparatus to transmit the information in the document managementsystem according to claim 12, wherein the operations further comprise:receiving the industry representation with the barcode via a facsimiletransmission before reading the barcode information.
 19. A method ofuploading information in a document management system, comprising:reading, by a processor, barcode information from a barcode attached toa coversheet; receiving, by the processor, a plurality of industryrepresentations; automatically linking, by the processor, the barcodeinformation to each of said plurality of industry representations; andstoring, by the processor in a memory, said plurality of industryrepresentations with the linked barcode information.
 20. The method ofuploading according to claim 19, further comprising: scanning thecoversheet with the barcode to perform the reading of the barcodeinformation.
 21. The method of uploading according to claim 19, furthercomprising: receiving via a facsimile the coversheet with the barcode toperform the reading of the barcode information.
 22. The method ofuploading according to claim 19, further comprising: manually linkingeach of said industry representations to at least one of an entity andan industry representation type before storing in the memory saidindustry representations with the linked barcode information.
 23. Themethod of uploading according to claim 19, wherein the barcodeinformation includes an entity which is a worker, an industryrepresentation type, and at least one of an expiration date and custominformation and wherein the industry representation is a certificate andthe industry representation type includes a state and type of governmentrequired certificate.
 24. The method of uploading according to claim 19,wherein said industry representation is a document, a certificate, alicense, other industry required representation, or a job requiredrepresentation and wherein the industry representation is associatedwith at least one of a worker, a vendor, a job, a customer, a contact, auser, or a company.